Major metabolism of saturated fatty acids in the mitochondria is called as -

Ans. is 'a' i.e., b-oxidation o b-oxidation is the principal pathway for catabalism of saturated fatty acids. b-oxidation mainly occurs in mitochondrial matrix (whereas fatty acid synthesis occurs in cytosol).o b-oxidatioon consists of repeated cycles of a series of reactions. With each cycle a two carbon unit (i.e. acetyl CoA molecule) is removed, started at the carboxyl end. Thus complete oxidation of the 16-Carbon fatty acid (e.g. palmitic acid) requires seven such cycles and generates eight molecules of acetyl CoA. In first 6 cycle, 6 acetyl CoA molecules (total 12 carbons) are removed leaving 4- carbon molecules for the last (7th) cycle. In 7th cycle, this 4 carbon molecules is cleaved into 2 acetyl CoA, making the total number of acetyl CoA molecules to eighto It is called b-oxidation because oxidation of fatty acids occurs at the b-carbon atom (3rd carbon and cleavage occurs between 2nd carbon (a-carbon) and 3rd carbon (b-carbon).o The pathway occurs in three stages: (i) Activation of fatty acid in the cytosol; (ii) Transport of activated fatty acid into mitochondria; and (iii) Standard b-oxidation process in mitochondrial matrix.