Abstract

Conventional beliefs surrounding the linolenic acid (LNA; cis-9 cis-12 cis-15 C18:3) biohydrogenation (BH) pathway propose that it converts to stearic acid (SA) without the formation of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) as intermediate isomers. However, an advanced study (Lee and Jenkins, 2011) verified that LNA BH yields multiple CLAs. This study utilized the stable isotope tracer to investigate the BH intermediates of 13C-LNA with different pH conditions (5.5 and 6.5). The 13C enrichment was calculated as a 13C/12C ratio of labeled minus unlabeled. After 24 h, eight CLA isomers were significantly enriched on both pH treatment, this result verifies that these CLAs originated from 13C-LNA BH which supports the results of Lee and Jenkins (2011). The enrichment of cis-cis double bond CLAs (cis-9 cis-11 and cis-10 cis-12 CLA) were significantly higher at low pH conditions. Furthermore, the concentration of cis-10 cis-12 CLA at low pH was four times higher than at high pH conditions after a 3 h incubation. These differences support the LNA BH pathways partial switch under different pH conditions, with a strong influence on the cis-cis CLA at low pH. Several mono-, di-, and tri-enoic fatty acid isomers were enriched during 24 h of incubation, but the enrichment was decreased or restricted at low pH treatment. Based on these results, it is proposed that low pH conditions may cause a changed or limited capacity of the isomerization and reduction steps in BH.

• Keywords: linolenic acid; conjugated linoleic acid; biohydrogenation; pH; enrichment; isomers