Central fuel molecule
Acetyl-CoA
Also searched as Acetyl-CoA.
Carbohydrate, fat, protein and ketones all become acetyl-CoA. It enters the tca cycle for energy, or leaves for fatty acid, cholesterol and acetylation chemistry. Its concentration is a signal in its own right — histone acetylation depends on it.
In depth
The two-carbon unit every fuel converges on and every synthesis starts from.
What drives it
Fat burning increases it.
Beta-oxidation yields acetyl-CoA. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
Sugar burning increases it.
Pyruvate is decarboxylated to acetyl-CoA. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
Thiamine status increases it.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase is thiamine-dependent - it gates entry to the TCA cycle. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism, micronutrient and redox reviews. doi 10.3390/nu18132141 · PMC9967593
What it drives
It increases Cholesterol synthesis pathway.
The pathway starts from acetyl-CoA. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It increases Mitochondrial energy.
Entry point to the TCA cycle. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It increases Stops fat storage.
The substrate for fatty acid synthesis. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It reduces Longevity gene.
Acetyl-CoA availability sets histone acetylation, which sirtuins oppose - the two are in direct opposition on the same substrate. Carried by the intermediary-metabolism and clinical reviews. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC9967593
It reduces Cellular cleanup.
nucleocytosolic acetyl-coenzyme A (AcCoA) production is a metabolic repressor of autophagy during aging in yeast... triggering histone acetylation, repression of autophagy genes, and an age-dependent defect…. PMC3988959
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.