The enzyme is composed of two subunits in
green plants (including
Chlorophyceae,
Marchantimorpha,
Bryopsida,
Pinaceae,
monocotyledons, and
eudicots), species of
fungi,
glaucophytes,
Chlamydomonas, and
prokaryotes. Animal ACL enzymes are homomeric; a
fusion of the
ACLA and
ACLB genes probably occurred early in the evolutionary history of this kingdom. In 2019, a full-length structure of human ACLY in complex with the substrates coenzyme A, citrate and Mg.ADP was determined by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 3.2 Å. Moreover, in 2019 a full-length structure of ACLY in complex with an inhibitor was determined by cryo-EM methods to a resolution of 3.7 Å. Additional structures of heteromeric ACLY-A/B from the
green sulfur bacteria Chlorobium limicola and the
archaeon Methanosaeta concilii show that the architecture of ACLY is
evolutionarily conserved. This CCL module catalyses the cleavage of the citryl-CoA intermediate into the products acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate. In 2019, cryo-EM structures of human ACLY, alone or bound to substrates or products were reported as well. ACLY forms a homotetramer with a rigid citrate synthase homology (CSH) module, flanked by four flexible acetyl-CoA synthetase homology (ASH) domains; CoA is bound at the CSH–ASH interface in mutually exclusive productive or unproductive conformations. The structure of a catalytic mutant of ACLY in the presence of ATP, citrate and CoA substrates reveals a CoA and phosphor-citrate intermediate in the N-terminal domain. Cryo-EM structures of products bound ACLY and substrates bound ACLY were also determined at 3.0 Å and 3.1 Å. An EM structure of mutant E599Q in complex with CoA and phospho-citrate intermediate was determined at resolution of 2.9 Å. Comparison between these structures of apo-ACLY and ligands bound ACLY demonstrated conformational changes on ASH domain (N-terminal domain) when different ligands bind. ==Pharmacology==