Trifunctional enzyme subunit alpha, mitochondrial also known as hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase/3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase/enoyl-CoA hydratase (trifunctional protein), alpha subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HADHA gene.
HADHA is a 82.9 kDa protein composed of 763 amino acids.
The membrane-bound heterocomplex is composed of four alpha and four beta subunits, with the alpha subunit catalyzing the 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase and enoyl-CoA hydratase activities. The genes of the alpha and beta subunits of the mitochondrial trifunctional protein are located adjacent to each other in the human genome in a head-to-head orientation.
This gene encodes the alpha subunit of the mitochondrial trifunctional protein, which catalyzes the last three steps of mitochondrial beta-oxidation of long chain fatty acids. The enzyme converts medium- and long-chain 2-enoyl-CoA compounds into the following 3-ketoacyl-CoA when NAD is solely present, and acetyl-CoA when NAD and CoASH are present. The alpha subunit catalyzes this reaction, and is attached to HADHB, which catalyzes the last step of the reaction.