Function
This enzyme is required since fatty acids cannot cross the mitochondrial membranes without assistance. The fatty acid is firstly bound to CoA and may cross the external mitochondrial membrane. It then exchanges the CoA for carnitine by the action of the enzyme carnitine palmitoyl transferase I. The complex then enters the mitochondrial matrix thanks to facilitated diffusion by carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. Here, the acyl-cartinine complex is disrupted by carnitine palmitoyl transferase II and the fatty acid rebinds to CoA. Carnitine then diffuses back across the membrane by carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase into the mitochondrial intermembrane space. This is called the carnitine shuttle system.
Read more about this topic: Carnitine-acylcarnitine Translocase
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information—hence, something inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“The function of the actor is to make the audience imagine for the moment that real things are happening to real people.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“My function in life is not to be a politician in Parliament: it is to get something done.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)