<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Infobox references </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> Coenzyme A (CoA, CoASH, or HSCoA) is a coenzyme, notable for its role in the synthesis and oxidation of fatty acids, and the oxidation of pyruvate in the citric acid cycle . All genomes sequenced to date encode enzymes that use coenzyme A as a substrate, and around 4% of cellular enzymes use it (or a thioester, such as acetyl - CoA) as a substrate . In humans, CoA biosynthesis requires cysteine, pantothenate, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). </P> <P> The structure of coenzyme A was identified in the early 1950s at the Lister Institute, London, together by Fritz Lipmann and other workers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital . Lipmann initially intended to study acetyl transfer in animals, and from these experiments he noticed a unique factor that was not present in enzyme extracts but was evident in all organs of the animals . He was able to isolate and purify the factor from pig liver and discovered that its function was related to a coenzyme that was active in choline acetylation . The coenzyme was named coenzyme A to stand for "activation of acetate ." In 1953, Fritz Lipmann won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of co-enzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism". </P>

What is the meaning of coa in biology