fatty acid biosynthetic pathway unsaturated fatty acid biosynthetic pathway 2012-11-02T15:40:42Z PW:0001137 The C16 palmitate product of the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway can be esterifed to triacylglycerol or converted to longer chain saturated and unsaturated fatty acid molecules by elongases and desaturases, depending on the needs of the cell. Unsaturated fatty acids are essential membrane components. pathway unsaturated fatty acid biosynthetic process vpetri