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Carnitine

From Bioblast


high-resolution terminology - matching measurements at high-resolution


Carnitine

Description

Carnitine transports long-chain acyl groups from fatty acids into the mitochondrial matrix, so they can be broken down through Ξ²-oxidation to acetyl CoA to obtain usable energy via the citric acid cycle.



MitoPedia topics: Substrate and metabolite 


Long-chain fatty acids are activated by an energy-requiring step in which the fatty acid ester of CoA is formed enzymatically at the expense of ATP. The fatty acids then pass through the inner membrane and enter the mitochondria as esters of the compound carnitine. The fatty acyl group is then transferred from carnitine to intramitochondrial CoA and the resulting fatty acyl CoA is then used as a substrate by the fatty acid oxidation cycle, which occurs in the inner matrix compartment.