How much carbon dioxide is produced from the complete aerobic catabolism of one molecule of linoleate via catabolic pathways?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Linoleate is an 18-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acid. Its complete aerobic catabolism involves beta-oxidation, which cleaves two carbon units (acetyl-CoA) at a time, followed by the citric acid cycle where acetyl-CoA is fully oxidized to CO2. Each round of beta-oxidation generates one NADH and one FADH2, which are then used in the electron transport chain to produce ATP, but more importantly for this question, each acetyl-CoA produced enters the citric acid cycle, resulting in two molecules of CO2. Since linoleate has 18 carbons, it undergoes 8 rounds of beta-oxidation to produce 9 acetyl-CoA molecules (the last round of beta-oxidation produces the final acetyl-CoA without further cleavage needed). Each acetyl-CoA then produces 2 CO2 molecules in the citric acid cycle, leading to a total of 18 CO2 molecules produced from the complete catabolism of one molecule of linoleate.

How Much Carbon Dioxide Is Produced from the Complete Aerobic