GCDH

UniProt ID: Q92947
Organism: Homo sapiens
Review Status: INITIALIZED
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Gene Description

Glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase (GCDH; EC 1.3.8.6) is a FAD-dependent enzyme of the acyl-CoA dehydrogenase family that resides in the mitochondrial matrix as a homotetramer. It catalyses the oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA and CO2, transferring the abstracted electrons via its FAD cofactor to the electron-transfer flavoprotein (ETF), which relays them to ETF-ubiquinone oxidoreductase and the respiratory chain. GCDH acts in the degradative pathways of L-lysine, L-hydroxylysine and L-tryptophan. It is synthesised as a precursor with an N-terminal mitochondrial transit peptide that is cleaved on import. Loss of GCDH activity causes the autosomal recessive disorder glutaric aciduria type 1 (GA1), characterised by accumulation of glutaric and 3-hydroxyglutaric acids, striatal (basal ganglia) degeneration, macrocephaly, dystonia and encephalopathic crises. In glioblastoma stem cells, a nuclear pool associates with CBP and supplies crotonyl-CoA for histone crotonylation; CBP catalyses the histone acyl transfer.

Existing Annotations Review

GO Term Evidence Action Reason
GO:0004361 glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity
IBA
GO_REF:0000033
ACCEPT
Summary: Core molecular function of GCDH, correctly captured at the appropriate level of specificity by phylogenetic inference across the acyl-CoA dehydrogenase family orthologue set.
Reason: This is the well-established enzymatic activity of GCDH (EC 1.3.8.6), directly demonstrated for the human enzyme and consistent with the phylogenetic assignment.
Propagation Review
Root cause: NO FAILURE CORE
Sources checked:
PANTHER:PTN005130278 SUPPORTS TRANSFER
Verified ancestor of Q92947 leaf PTN002533783 in PTHR42807. Reaction/cofactor or substrate-product evidence agrees with inheritance.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
Catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA and CO(2) in the degradative pathway of L-lysine, L-
GO:0000062 fatty-acyl-CoA binding
IBA
GO_REF:0000033
ACCEPT
Summary: Accept fatty-acyl-CoA binding. GCDH binds its glutaryl-CoA substrate and releases crotonyl-CoA from the active site; crotonyl-CoA is a monounsaturated fatty-acyl-CoA.
Reason: The previous exclusion of dicarboxylic substrates and short-chain enoyl products was chemically incorrect. Live ChEBI classifies crotonoyl-CoA (CHEBI:15473) under fatty acyl-CoA (CHEBI:37554); glutaryl-CoA(5-) (CHEBI:57378) also has an omega-carboxy-(fatty acyl)-CoA parent. Product binding is supported by the primary kinetic finding that crotonyl-CoA release limits turnover. This is a broad true capacity, even though glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity is the most informative catalytic annotation. The actual human leaf PTN002533783 descends from IBD PTN005130278; no wrong-branch inference is established.
Propagation Review
Root cause: NO FAILURE CORE
Sources checked:
PANTHER:PTN005130278 SUPPORTS TRANSFER
Verified ancestor of Q92947 leaf PTN002533783 in PTHR42807. Reaction/cofactor or substrate-product evidence agrees with inheritance.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:17176108
of crotonyl-CoA product because the chemical steps and reoxidation of reduced
GO:0033539 fatty acid beta-oxidation using acyl-CoA dehydrogenase
IBA
GO_REF:0000033
UNDECIDED
Summary: Unresolved placement in the iterative fatty-acid beta-oxidation pathway.
Reason: GCDH clearly oxidizes glutaryl-CoA with ETF and generates crotonyl-CoA. Predominant amino-acid catabolism does not exclude another substrate or a broader chemical process. Current ChEBI even classifies glutaryl-CoA(5-) under an omega-carboxy fatty-acyl-CoA class. GO:0033539 describes iterative beta-oxidation beginning with fatty-acid activation, a more specific claim than isolated dehydrogenation/decarboxylation. The cached PMID:25416781 text omits Methods/Results; independently indexed Figure 5 identifies glutaryl-CoA for GCDH and octanoyl-CoA for MCAD. This confirms the assay distinction without proving all other GCDH capacities absent. The rat substrate study PMID:21974953 is abstract-only and requires full-table assessment. A focused adjudication addresses broad oxidation and the beta-oxidation process separately. The actual beta-oxidation IBD is PTN005130278, grounded on the target human experimental annotation itself; this is legitimate evidence, not circular propagation or demonstrated wrong-paralog placement.
Propagation Review
Root cause: UNRESOLVED
Sources checked:
PANTHER:PTN005130278 UNRESOLVED
Verified ancestor of Q92947 leaf PTN002533783 in PTHR42807. The human experimental beta-oxidation source grounds this IBD; process scope remains unresolved, not a demonstrated phylogenetic placement failure.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:25416781
methylation reduced the ability of ETFΞ² to receive electrons from the dehydrogenases MCAD and GCDH
GO:0046949 fatty-acyl-CoA biosynthetic process
IBA
GO_REF:0000033
ACCEPT
Summary: Accept fatty-acyl-CoA biosynthesis: GCDH directly produces crotonyl-CoA by oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA.
Reason: GO:0046949 covers formation of a fatty-acyl-CoA and does not require fatty-acid chain elongation or an exclusively anabolic pathway. Crotonoyl-CoA is a fatty acyl-CoA in ChEBI. A step in lysine degradation can simultaneously synthesize this metabolite; the two pathway descriptions are compatible. Human glioblastoma stem-cell experiments directly establish a GCDH-dependent crotonyl-CoA pool, including nuclear substrate supply to CBP. GCDH performs the chemical production step, while CBP performs histone crotonyl transfer; no new histone-modification assertion is made.
Propagation Review
Root cause: NO FAILURE CORE
Sources checked:
PANTHER:PTN005130278 SUPPORTS TRANSFER
Verified ancestor of Q92947 leaf PTN002533783 in PTHR42807. Reaction/cofactor or substrate-product evidence agrees with inheritance.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:37198486
Crotonyl-CoA produced from glutaryl-CoA by GCDH was utilized by CBP
GO:0050660 flavin adenine dinucleotide binding
IBA
GO_REF:0000033
ACCEPT
Summary: GCDH is a flavoprotein that uses a non-covalently bound FAD cofactor as the primary electron acceptor during glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenation. FAD binding is well documented biochemically and structurally.
Reason: FAD is the obligate cofactor of GCDH; crystal structures resolve FAD bound in the active site and multiple FAD-binding residues are annotated. Correct at the right level of specificity.
Propagation Review
Root cause: NO FAILURE CORE
Sources checked:
PANTHER:PTN005130278 SUPPORTS TRANSFER
Verified ancestor of Q92947 leaf PTN002533783 in PTHR42807. Reaction/cofactor or substrate-product evidence agrees with inheritance.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
Name=FAD; Xref=ChEBI:CHEBI:57692;
GO:0003995 acyl-CoA dehydrogenase activity
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
MODIFY
Summary: Correct family-level molecular function but less specific than the demonstrated glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity (GO:0004361), which is the precise activity of this enzyme.
Reason: GCDH is a specific acyl-CoA dehydrogenase whose demonstrated activity is glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity. The broad parent term should be replaced by the specific child term for which there is direct experimental evidence.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
RecName: Full=Glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase, mitochondrial;
GO:0004361 glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
ACCEPT
Summary: Core molecular function of GCDH, here inferred electronically from RHEA/EC and orthologue mapping. Consistent with direct experimental evidence.
Reason: The electronic mapping (RHEA:13389, EC:1.3.8.6, orthologues) correctly assigns the demonstrated glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
EC=1.3.8.6;
GO:0005739 mitochondrion
IEA
GO_REF:0000117
ACCEPT
Summary: GCDH is a nuclear-encoded mitochondrial protein with a cleavable N-terminal transit peptide; mitochondrial localization is well established.
Reason: Correct, though less specific than the mitochondrial matrix localization. Consistent with the transit peptide, the mature-chain import, and experimental localization data.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
SUBCELLULAR LOCATION: Mitochondrion matrix.
GO:0005759 mitochondrial matrix
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
ACCEPT
Summary: GCDH acts in the mitochondrial matrix, where it participates in amino-acid catabolism and donates electrons to the matrix-facing ETF. This is the precise subcellular location.
Reason: UniProt records the mitochondrion matrix location and Reactome places the reaction in the matrix; consistent with the soluble matrix acyl-CoA dehydrogenase biochemistry.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
SUBCELLULAR LOCATION: Mitochondrion matrix.
GO:0016627 oxidoreductase activity, acting on the CH-CH group of donors
IEA
GO_REF:0000002
ACCEPT
Summary: Correct broad parent molecular-function term describing the CH-CH dehydrogenation chemistry (introducing the C2-C3 double bond of crotonyl-CoA). Less specific than glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity.
Reason: GCDH catalyses dehydrogenation across the CH-CH bond of the CoA-thioester substrate; this InterPro-based broad term is accurate. Broad IEA parent is acceptable to retain alongside the specific activity.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
Catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA and CO(2) in the degradative pathway of L-lysine, L-
GO:0050660 flavin adenine dinucleotide binding
IEA
GO_REF:0000120
ACCEPT
Summary: GCDH binds FAD as its cofactor; duplicate of the IBA FAD-binding annotation, here from electronic inference.
Reason: FAD is the obligate cofactor; the electronic assignment is correct.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
Name=FAD; Xref=ChEBI:CHEBI:57692;
GO:0000062 fatty-acyl-CoA binding
IEA
GO_REF:0000107
ACCEPT
Summary: Accept fatty-acyl-CoA binding. GCDH binds its glutaryl-CoA substrate and releases crotonyl-CoA from the active site; crotonyl-CoA is a monounsaturated fatty-acyl-CoA.
Reason: The previous exclusion of dicarboxylic substrates and short-chain enoyl products was chemically incorrect. Live ChEBI classifies crotonoyl-CoA (CHEBI:15473) under fatty acyl-CoA (CHEBI:37554); glutaryl-CoA(5-) (CHEBI:57378) also has an omega-carboxy-(fatty acyl)-CoA parent. Product binding is supported by the primary kinetic finding that crotonyl-CoA release limits turnover. This is a broad true capacity, even though glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity is the most informative catalytic annotation. The actual human leaf PTN002533783 descends from IBD PTN005130278; no wrong-branch inference is established.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:17176108
of crotonyl-CoA product because the chemical steps and reoxidation of reduced
GO:0006637 acyl-CoA metabolic process
IEA
GO_REF:0000107
ACCEPT
Summary: Broad but accurate biological-process term. GCDH metabolises glutaryl-CoA, which is an acyl-CoA thioester.
Reason: GCDH consumes an acyl-CoA (glutaryl-CoA) and generates an acyl-CoA (crotonyl-CoA); the broad term is correct, though the more informative process is amino-acid/lysine catabolism.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
Catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA and CO(2) in the degradative pathway of L-lysine, L-
GO:0009063 amino acid catabolic process
IEA
GO_REF:0000107
ACCEPT
Summary: Accurate broad parent term. GCDH functions in the catabolism of L-lysine, L-hydroxylysine and L-tryptophan.
Reason: GCDH is a bona fide amino-acid catabolic enzyme; this broad term is correct and complements the more specific L-lysine catabolic process annotation.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
in the degradative pathway of L-lysine, L-
GO:0019395 fatty acid oxidation
IEA
GO_REF:0000107
UNDECIDED
Summary: Unresolved scope of fatty-acid oxidation for glutaryl-CoA oxidation and any additional substrates.
Reason: GCDH clearly oxidizes glutaryl-CoA with ETF and generates crotonyl-CoA. Predominant amino-acid catabolism does not exclude another substrate or a broader chemical process. Current ChEBI even classifies glutaryl-CoA(5-) under an omega-carboxy fatty-acyl-CoA class. GO:0033539 describes iterative beta-oxidation beginning with fatty-acid activation, a more specific claim than isolated dehydrogenation/decarboxylation. The cached PMID:25416781 text omits Methods/Results; independently indexed Figure 5 identifies glutaryl-CoA for GCDH and octanoyl-CoA for MCAD. This confirms the assay distinction without proving all other GCDH capacities absent. The rat substrate study PMID:21974953 is abstract-only and requires full-table assessment. A focused adjudication addresses broad oxidation and the beta-oxidation process separately. The actual beta-oxidation IBD is PTN005130278, grounded on the target human experimental annotation itself; this is legitimate evidence, not circular propagation or demonstrated wrong-paralog placement.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:25416781
methylation reduced the ability of ETFΞ² to receive electrons from the dehydrogenases MCAD and GCDH
GO:0019477 L-lysine catabolic process
IEA
GO_REF:0000107
ACCEPT
Summary: Core biological process of GCDH. Glutaryl-CoA is the key intermediate of the saccharopine (lysine degradation) pathway, and GCDH catalyses its dehydrogenation/decarboxylation.
Reason: L-lysine catabolism is a central physiological role of GCDH, supported by the UniProt lysine-degradation pathway assignment and by experimental evidence that GCDH is the crotonyl-CoA-producing enzyme in lysine catabolism.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
Amino-acid metabolism; lysine degradation.
GO:0046949 fatty-acyl-CoA biosynthetic process
IEA
GO_REF:0000107
ACCEPT
Summary: Accept fatty-acyl-CoA biosynthesis: GCDH directly produces crotonyl-CoA by oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA.
Reason: GO:0046949 covers formation of a fatty-acyl-CoA and does not require fatty-acid chain elongation or an exclusively anabolic pathway. Crotonoyl-CoA is a fatty acyl-CoA in ChEBI. A step in lysine degradation can simultaneously synthesize this metabolite; the two pathway descriptions are compatible. Human glioblastoma stem-cell experiments directly establish a GCDH-dependent crotonyl-CoA pool, including nuclear substrate supply to CBP. GCDH performs the chemical production step, while CBP performs histone crotonyl transfer; no new histone-modification assertion is made.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:37198486
Crotonyl-CoA produced from glutaryl-CoA by GCDH was utilized by CBP
GO:0005634 nucleus
IDA
PMID:37198486
Lysine catabolism reprograms tumour immunity through histone...
KEEP AS NON CORE
Summary: A context-specific (moonlighting) nuclear pool of GCDH was demonstrated in glioblastoma stem cells, where nuclear GCDH partners with the crotonyltransferase CBP to generate a local crotonyl-CoA supply for histone lysine crotonylation. This is not the canonical mitochondrial-matrix metabolic function.
Reason: The IDA is valid (experimental co-localization and nuclear-fraction immunoprecipitation), but the nuclear localization is a specialized, cancer-cell-context function distinct from GCDH's core role as a mitochondrial-matrix amino-acid catabolic enzyme. Retain as a non-core moonlighting localization.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:37198486
GCDH most frequently co-localized with the mitochondrial marker COX IV, but >20% of total GCDH localized to nuclei in GSCs
PMID:37198486
GCDH interacts with the crotonyltransferase CBP to promote histone
GO:0005739 mitochondrion
IDA
PMID:37198486
Lysine catabolism reprograms tumour immunity through histone...
ACCEPT
Summary: Direct co-localization with the mitochondrial marker COX IV confirms the predominant mitochondrial localization of GCDH, consistent with its role as a matrix acyl-CoA dehydrogenase.
Reason: GCDH most frequently co-localized with the mitochondrial marker COX IV, confirming the canonical mitochondrial localization by direct assay.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:37198486
GCDH most frequently co-localized with the mitochondrial marker COX IV, but >20% of total GCDH localized to nuclei in GSCs
GO:0019477 L-lysine catabolic process
IMP
PMID:37198486
Lysine catabolism reprograms tumour immunity through histone...
ACCEPT
Summary: Genetic depletion of GCDH abolishes the lysine-driven increase in crotonyl-CoA and histone crotonylation, providing mutational-phenotype evidence that GCDH functions in L-lysine catabolism (the crotonyl-CoA-producing branch).
Reason: GCDH was identified as the crotonyl-CoA-producing enzyme of the lysine catabolic pathway, and GCDH depletion abolished lysine-induced crotonylation, directly supporting involvement in L-lysine catabolism.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:37198486
GCDH depletion abolished increased Kcr induced by L-lysine supplementation
PMID:37198486
(crotonyl-CoA)-producing enzyme glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase (GCDH) with
GO:0005739 mitochondrion
IDA
GO_REF:0000052
ACCEPT
Summary: Immunofluorescence-based (HPA) evidence of mitochondrial localization, consistent with all other localization data.
Reason: Corroborates the well-established mitochondrial localization of GCDH.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
SUBCELLULAR LOCATION: Mitochondrion matrix.
GO:0005739 mitochondrion
HTP
PMID:34800366
Quantitative high-confidence human mitochondrial proteome an...
ACCEPT
Summary: High-throughput mitochondrial proteomics identifies GCDH as a component of the human mitochondrial proteome, consistent with its established localization.
Reason: Retain the GOA-curated mitochondrial proteomics assignment, independently corroborated by human GCDH import and COX IV colocalization. The target supplementary proteomics identification was not independently re-counted in this session.
Supporting Evidence:
file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
SUBCELLULAR LOCATION: Mitochondrion matrix.
GO:0004361 glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity
IDA
PMID:8541831
Cloning of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase cDNA, and expression o...
ACCEPT
Summary: Direct experimental demonstration of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity for the cloned and expressed human enzyme, with kinetic constants matching purified porcine enzyme; a disease mutant retained <1% activity.
Reason: This is the defining, experimentally demonstrated catalytic activity of GCDH. The human cDNA was cloned, expressed in E. coli, and shown to have glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase activity with kinetic constants similar to the purified enzyme.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:8541831
kinetic constants similar to those of the previously purified
PMID:8541831
We have cloned, sequenced, and expressed cDNAs encoding wild type human
GO:0033539 fatty acid beta-oxidation using acyl-CoA dehydrogenase
IDA
PMID:25416781
Human METTL20 is a mitochondrial lysine methyltransferase th...
UNDECIDED
Summary: Unresolved placement in the iterative fatty-acid beta-oxidation pathway.
Reason: GCDH clearly oxidizes glutaryl-CoA with ETF and generates crotonyl-CoA. Predominant amino-acid catabolism does not exclude another substrate or a broader chemical process. Current ChEBI even classifies glutaryl-CoA(5-) under an omega-carboxy fatty-acyl-CoA class. GO:0033539 describes iterative beta-oxidation beginning with fatty-acid activation, a more specific claim than isolated dehydrogenation/decarboxylation. The cached PMID:25416781 text omits Methods/Results; independently indexed Figure 5 identifies glutaryl-CoA for GCDH and octanoyl-CoA for MCAD. This confirms the assay distinction without proving all other GCDH capacities absent. The rat substrate study PMID:21974953 is abstract-only and requires full-table assessment. A focused adjudication addresses broad oxidation and the beta-oxidation process separately. The actual beta-oxidation IBD is PTN005130278, grounded on the target human experimental annotation itself; this is legitimate evidence, not circular propagation or demonstrated wrong-paralog placement.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:25416781
methylation reduced the ability of ETFΞ² to receive electrons from the dehydrogenases MCAD and GCDH
GO:0005759 mitochondrial matrix
TAS
Reactome:R-HSA-71046
ACCEPT
Summary: Reactome places the glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase reaction in the mitochondrial matrix, catalysed by the GCDH homotetramer lacking its transit peptide. This is the precise, correct subcellular location.
Reason: The traceable Reactome assertion agrees with UniProt (Mitochondrion matrix) and with the soluble-matrix biochemistry of GCDH.
Supporting Evidence:
Reactome:R-HSA-71046
The active enzyme is a tetramer of GCDH polypeptides lacking a 44-residue aminoterminal mitochondrial targeting sequence.
GO:0005739 mitochondrion
TAS
PMID:8541831
Cloning of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase cDNA, and expression o...
ACCEPT
Summary: The GCDH primary translation product is translocated into mitochondria and processed like other nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins, supporting mitochondrial localization.
Reason: The cited study reports mitochondrial import and processing of the GCDH precursor, a traceable author statement supporting mitochondrial localization.
Supporting Evidence:
PMID:8541831
is translocated into mitochondria

Core Functions

FAD-dependent glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase that oxidatively decarboxylates glutaryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA and CO2, transferring electrons to ETF. This step degrades lysine-pathway intermediates while producing the short-chain fatty-acyl-CoA crotonyl-CoA.

Supporting Evidence:
  • file:human/GCDH/GCDH-uniprot.txt
    Catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of glutaryl-CoA to crotonyl-CoA and CO(2) in the degradative pathway of L-lysine, L-
  • PMID:8541831
    We have cloned, sequenced, and expressed cDNAs encoding wild type human
  • PMID:37198486
    Crotonyl-CoA produced from glutaryl-CoA by GCDH was utilized by CBP

References

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Suggested Questions for Experts

Q: Does the experimentally observed GCDH reaction satisfy the broad fatty-acid oxidation convention, and is there independent evidence for an iterative beta-oxidation role or physiological secondary fatty-acyl-CoA substrate? Distinguish GO:0019395 from GO:0033539 and examine the full rat specificity study.

Deep Research

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Notes

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