Figure 1

Phytanic acid in the food chain. Simplified schematic representation of the mechanism by which phytanic acid is introduced into marine and terrestrial food chains. Asterisks next to the apes (including bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and siamangs), rhesus macaques, and olive baboons indicate they are proposed to degrade chlorophyll into phytol based on data from previous studies [3] as well as this study. Interactions from the marine food chain are based, in part, on reference [2]. Although chlorophyll A is depicted, the same pathway also pertains to chlorophyll B.