In enzymology, a glycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that catalyzes

Catalysis

Catalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....

 the chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

acyl-CoA + sn-glycerol 3-phosphate CoA + 1-acyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphate

Thus, the two substrates

Substrate (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a substrate is a molecule upon which an enzyme acts. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions involving the substrate. In the case of a single substrate, the substrate binds with the enzyme active site, and an enzyme-substrate complex is formed. The substrate is transformed into one or...

 of this enzyme are acyl-CoA

Acyl-CoA

Acyl-CoA is a group of coenzymes involved in the metabolism of fatty acids. It is a temporary compound formed when coenzyme A attaches to the end of a long-chain fatty acid inside living cells. The compound undergoes beta oxidation, forming one or more molecules of acetyl-CoA...

 and sn-glycerol 3-phosphate, whereas its two products

Product (chemistry)

Product are formed during chemical reactions as reagents are consumed. Products have lower energy than the reagents and are produced during the reaction according to the second law of thermodynamics. The released energy comes from changes in chemical bonds between atoms in reagent molecules and...

 are CoA

Coenzyme A

Coenzyme A is a coenzyme, notable for its role in the synthesis and oxidation of fatty acids, and the oxidation of pyruvate in the citric acid cycle. All sequenced genomes encode enzymes that use coenzyme A as a substrate, and around 4% of cellular enzymes use it as a substrate...

 and 1-acyl-sn-glycerol 3-phosphate.

This enzyme belongs to the family of transferase

Transferase

In biochemistry, a transferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of a functional group from one molecule to another . For example, an enzyme that catalyzed this reaction would be a transferase:In this example, A would be the donor, and B would be the acceptor...

s, specifically those acyltransferase

Acyltransferase

Acyltransferase is a type of transferase enzyme that acts upon acyl groups.Examples include:* Glyceronephosphate O-acyltransferase* Lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase...

s transferring groups other than aminoacyl groups. The systematic name of this enzyme class is acyl-CoA:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate 1-O-acyltransferase. Other names in common use include alpha-glycerophosphate acyltransferase, 3-glycerophosphate acyltransferase, ACP:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase, glycerol 3-phosphate acyltransferase, glycerol phosphate acyltransferase, glycerol phosphate transacylase, glycerophosphate acyltransferase, glycerophosphate transacylase, sn-glycerol 3-phosphate acyltransferase, and sn-glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase. This enzyme participates in glycerolipid metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism.

Structural studies

As of late 2007, two structures

Tertiary structure

In biochemistry and molecular biology, the tertiary structure of a protein or any other macromolecule is its three-dimensional structure, as defined by the atomic coordinates.-Relationship to primary structure:...

 have been solved for this class of enzymes, with PDB

Protein Data Bank

The Protein Data Bank is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids....

accession codes and .