The mitochondrial oxidation of long-chain fatty acids is initiated by the sequential action of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (which is located in the outer membrane and is detergent-labile) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (which is located in the inner membrane and is detergent-stable), together with a carnitine-acylcarnitine translocase. CPT I is the key enzyme in the carnitine-dependent transport across the mitochondrial inner membrane and its deficiency results in a decreased rate of fatty acid beta-oxidation. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.
