Long-chain acyl CoA synthetase, carnitine and β-oxidation in the pea-seed mitochondrion.

Mitochondria from pea (Pisum sativum L.) seeds were separated into two fractions, mitoplasts (intact inner membrane) and the outer-membrane fraction. The mitoplasts only oxidised palmitate in the presence of carnitine and added outermembrane fraction. Mitoplasts were able to oxidise palmitoylCoA in the presence of carnitine and added outer-membrane fraction had no effect on this oxidation. It was concluded that a long-chain acylCoA synthetase (EC 6.2.1.3) was located on the outer membrane and that the activity of this enzyme in assays was more than sufficient to account for any observed rate of O2 uptake during palmitate oxidation by pea mitochondria. The location of carnitine long-chain acyltransferase (carnitine palmitoyl transferase EC 2.3.1.21) would appear to be the mitoplast i.e. the inner mitochondrial membrane, and confirms the previous work at Newcastle.