Acyl CoA dehydrogenase

Acyl-CoA dehydrogenases (ACADs) are a class of enzymes that function to catalyze the initial step in each cycle of fatty acid β-oxidation in the mitochondria of cells. Their action results in the introduction of a trans double-bond between C2 (α) and C3 (β) of the acyl-CoA thioester substrate. Flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) is a required co-factor in addition to the presence of an active site glutamate in order for the enzyme to function. Acyl-CoA dehydrogenases (ACADs) are a class of enzymes that function to catalyze the initial step in each cycle of fatty acid β-oxidation in the mitochondria of cells. Their action results in the introduction of a trans double-bond between C2 (α) and C3 (β) of the acyl-CoA thioester substrate. Flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) is a required co-factor in addition to the presence of an active site glutamate in order for the enzyme to function. The following reaction is the oxidation of the fatty acid by FAD to afford an α,β-unsaturated fatty acid thioester of Coenzyme A: ACADs can be categorized into three distinct groups based on their specificity for short-, medium-, or long-chain fatty acid acyl-CoA substrates. While different dehydrogenases target fatty acids of varying chain length, all types of ACADs are mechanistically similar. Differences in the enzyme occur based on the location of the active site along the amino acid sequence. ACADs are an important class of enzymes in mammalian cells because of their role in metabolizing fatty acids present in ingested food materials. This enzyme's action represents the first step in fatty acid metabolism (the process of breaking long chains of fatty acids into acetyl CoA molecules). Deficiencies in these enzymes are linked to genetic disorders involving fatty acid oxidation (i.e. metabolic disorders). ACAD enzymes have been identified in animals (of which there are 9 major eukaryotic classes), as well as plants, nematodes, fungi, and bacteria. Five of these nine classes are involved in fatty acid β-oxidation (SCAD, MCAD, LCAD, VLCAD, and VLCAD2), and the other four are involved in branched chain amino acid metabolism (i3VD, i2VD, GD, and iBD). Most acyl-CoA dehydrogenases are α4 homotetramers, and in two cases (for very long chain fatty acid substrates) they are α2 homodimers. An additional class of acyl-CoA dehydrogenase was discovered that catalyzes α,β-unsaturation reactions with steroid-CoA thioesters in certain types of bacteria. This class of ACAD was demonstrated to form α2β2 heterotetramers, rather than the usual α4 homotetramer, a protein architecture that evolved in order to accommodate a much larger steroid-CoA substrate. ACADs are classified as EC 1.3.99.3. The medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) is the best known structure of all ACADs, and is the most commonly deficient enzyme within the class that leads to metabolic disorders in animals. This protein is a homotetramer with each subunit containing roughly 400 amino acids and one equivalent of FAD per monomer. The tetramer is classified as a “dimer of dimers” with an overall diameter of approximately 90 Å. The interface between the two monomers of a single dimer of an ACAD contains the FAD binding sites and has extensive bonding interactions. In contrast, the interface between the two dimers has fewer interactions. There are a total of 4 active sites within the tetramer, each of which contains a single FAD molecule and an acyl-CoA substrate binding site. This gives a total of four FAD molecules and four acyl-CoA substrate binding sites per enzyme. FAD is bound between the three domains of the monomer, where only the nucleotide portion is accessible. FAD binding contributes significantly to overall enzyme stability. The acyl-CoA substrate is bound completely within each monomer of the enzyme. The active site is lined with the residues F252, T255, V259, T96, T99, A100, L103, Y375, Y375, and E376. The area of interest within the substrate becomes wedged between Glu 376 and FAD, lining up the molecules into an ideal position for the reaction.