10 Facts About Coenzyme A

Coenzyme A is a coenzyme, notable for its role in the synthesis and oxidation of fatty acids, and the oxidation of pyruvate in the citric acid cycle.

Coenzyme A was identified by Fritz Lipmann in 1946, who later gave it its name.

Coenzyme A was able to isolate and purify the factor from pig liver and discovered that its function was related to a coenzyme that was active in choline acetylation.

Coenzyme A is naturally synthesized from pantothenate, which is found in food such as meat, vegetables, cereal grains, legumes, eggs, and milk.

Coenzyme A can be synthesized through alternate routes when intracellular coenzyme A level are reduced and the de novo pathway is impaired.

Coenzyme A is produced commercially via extraction from yeast, however this is an inefficient process resulting in an expensive product.

Since coenzyme A is, in chemical terms, a thiol, it can react with carboxylic acids to form thioesters, thus functioning as an acyl group carrier.

Coenzyme A is the source of the phosphopantetheine group that is added as a prosthetic group to proteins such as acyl carrier protein and formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase.

Coenzyme A is one of five crucial coenzymes that are necessary in the reaction mechanism of the citric acid cycle.

Coenzyme A is available from various chemical suppliers as the free acid and lithium or sodium salts.