Malonyl-CoA inhibition of peroxisomal carnitine octanoyltransferase

Although the malonyl-CoA sensitivity of peroxisomal carnitine octanoyltransferase (COT) is reportedly lost on solubilization, we show that malonyl-CoA does inhibit the purified enzyme. Assay conditions such as buffer composition, pH, acyl-CoA substrate and the presence or absence of BSA can affect the observed inhibition. When assayed in the absence of BSA, COT shows simple competitive inhibition by malonyl-CoA. The K(i) value for inhibition of purified COT is high (106 μM) compared with physiological concentrations (1-6 μM) and other short-chain acyl-CoA esters inhibit COT to the same degree. However, when COT is assayed in intact peroxisomes, the k(i) for malonyl-CoA is almost 20-fold lower than found with the purified enzyme, whereas inhibition by other short-chain acyl-CoA esters does not change significantly. Several features of the inhibition of peroxisomal COT, including the specificity of malonyl-CoA over other short-chain acyl-CoA esters, resemble those of carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT)-I, suggesting that the regulation of COT and CPT-I in parallel may be necessary for the control of cellular fatty acid metabolism.