[en] The molecular structures of the fatty acid synthetase complexes (FAS) in eucaryotic organisms are well characterized. Clear-cut evidence about the nature of the plant FAS system was not forthcoming until 1980 to 1982. The six proteins required for FAS were separated by appropriate protein fractionation techniques. Each of these six enzymes has now been highly purified. With the availability of the seven highly purified enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis, reconstitutive experiments were devised. When synthetase I was added to an enzyme consisting of malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase, β-ketoacyl-ACP reductase, β-OH acyl-ACP dehydrase, and enoyl-ACP reductase in the presence of hexanoyl-ACP and ¹⁴C-malonyl-CoA + ACP, the principal product (64%) was palmitic acid