Carnitine Acetyltransferase (CRAT)

Carnitine acetyltransferase (CRAT) is a key enzyme in the metabolic pathway in mitochondria, peroxisomes and endoplasmic reticulum. CRAT catalyzes the reversible transfer of acyl groups from an acyl-CoA thioester to carnitine and regulates the ratio of acylCoA/CoA in the subcellular compartments.

Different subcellular localizations of the CRAT mRNAs are thought to result from alternative splicing of the CRAT gene suggested by the divergent sequences in the 5' region of peroxisomal and mitochondrial CRAT cDNAs and the location of an intron where the sequences diverge. The alternatively splicing of this gene results in three distinct isoforms, one of which contains an N-terminial mitochondrial transit peptide, and has been shown to be located in mitochondria.