Meta-Biol

• Pathways

While fatty acid synthesis from acetyl CoA (Ac-CoA) proceeds in the cytosol, most Ac-CoA in the cell is generated within the mitochondria, by oxidative decarboxylation of the pyruvate derived from glycolysis, as well as from a number of reactions of amino acid catabolism. Mitochondrial Ac-CoA is transported to the cytosol as citrate (CIT) to participate in fatty acid biosynthesis. Cytosolic ATP-citrate synthase (ACLY), in tetrameric form, catalyses the transformation of CIT to Ac-CoA and and plays an essential role in lipogenesis, adipogenesis and differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytic cells (Elshourbagy et al. 1992, Lin et al. 2013). Cytosolic MORC family CW-type zinc finger protein 2 (MORC2) positively regulates the activity of ACLY, thus could be a mediator of lipogenesis, adipogenic differentiation, and lipid homeostasis (Sanchez-Solana et al. 2014).