Crotonyl Coenzyme A, Free acid
CAS No.: 992-67-6
Synonym(s): Crotonyl Coenzyme A, 2-Butenoyl Coenzyme A, Crotonyl-CoA, S-2-butenoate Coenzyme AAvailability: 2-3 weeks
Crotonyl coenzyme A (crotonyl-CoA) is a short-chain unsaturated acyl-CoA intermediate involved in fatty acid metabolism and epigenetic regulation. Crotonyl-CoA serves as a substrate for histone crotonylation, a modification associated with active gene transcription. Histone crotonylation is catalyzed by enzymes such as the transcriptional coactivator p300, which also exhibits crotonyltransferase activity. Studies suggest crotonylation can stimulate transcription more strongly than histone acetylation under certain conditions. In mammalian systems, crotonyl-CoA is generated from crotonate via acyl-CoA synthetases such as ACSS2 and is present at lower intracellular levels than acetyl-CoA, making it a metabolic indicator linked to epigenetic regulation.¹
Applications
Crotonyl-CoA is used as a research tool to study the link between metabolism and gene regulation via histone crotonylation. In inflammatory models, crotonate supplementation increases crotonyl-CoA levels and enhances expression of genes such as Il6 and Cxcl10, while ACSS2 knockdown reduces crotonyl-CoA and attenuates cytokine secretion during immune activation. In cell-free systems, it is used to demonstrate p300-dependent transcriptional activation relative to histone acetylation.¹ The proteo-metabo-flux approach combines mass spectrometry and computational modeling to trace metabolic precursors into chromatin, distinguishing flux-driven effects from enzyme activity changes. Monitoring crotonyl-CoA also supports drug mechanism studies, including metabolic reprogramming by Akt inhibitors.² These approaches quantify how nutrient availability is translated into transcriptional regulation.¹ ²
Other available forms
