Application Notes:
This high purity monounsaturated fatty acid is ideal as a standard and for biological systems. This fatty acid is the trans
isomer of the naturally occurring and more prevalent palmitoleic acid. Palmitelaidic acid occurs naturally in some bacteria
and other microorganisms and it is the predominant trans-fatty acid present in ruminant milk fat isolated from cheese (about
0.07% of the total fatty acids) along with small amounts of other trans-fatty acids.1 In some bacteria cis-trans isomerization
of cis-9-hexadecenoic acid (palmitoleic acid) to trans-9-hexadecenoic acid (Palmitelaidic acid) can occur intracellularly
without a shift in the bond position.2 Palmitelaidic acid appears to be located exclusively at the sn-2 position of
phosphatidylethanolamine in these bacteria. However, it does not appear that the trans fatty acid is synthesized de novo by
trans-desaturation from hexadecanoic acid but rather isomerized from palmitoleic acid that is present in these bacteria.3
Palmitelaidic acid, along with other trans-fatty acids, has been identified as having a positive association with coronary artery
disease and is therefore of concern in partially hydrogenated oils.
References:
1. F. Destaillats et al. “Study of individual trans- and cis-16:1 isomers in cow, goat, and ewe cheese fats by gas-liquid chromatography with emphasis on the trans-delta3 isomer” Lipids, vol. 35 pp. 1027-1032, 2000
2. N. Morita et al. “Evidence for cis-trans Isomerization of a Double Bond in the Fatty Acids of the Psychrophilic Bacterium Vibrio sp. Strain ABE-1” Journal of Bacteriology, vol. 175 pp. 916-918, 1993
3. H. Okuyama et al. “The cis/trans isomerization of the double bond of a fatty acid as a strategy for adaptation to changes in ambient temperature in the psychrophilic bacterium, Vibrio sp. strain ABE-1” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, vol. 1084 pp. 13-20, 1991