FeruloylCoA

Feruloyl-CoA is the coenzyme A thioester of ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid). It is a reactive intermediate in hydroxycinnamate metabolism and serves as an activated form of ferulic acid for enzymatic transformations in plants and microorganisms.

In plants, hydroxycinnamic acids are activated to their CoA esters by ATP-dependent acyl-CoA ligases, such as 4-coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL). Ferulic acid is converted to feruloyl-CoA, enabling subsequent steps in the phenylpropanoid pathway, including diversification toward lignin and monolignol biosynthesis.

Within lignin biosynthesis, feruloyl-CoA acts as a substrate for downstream enzymes that generate coniferyl- and sinapoyl-CoA, contributing to the formation of lignin units and cross-linking to cell-wall polysaccharides via feruloyl esters.

In microbes, feruloyl-CoA participates in catabolic routes that degrade ferulic acid, feeding pathways to ring-cleavage products or to aldehydes such as vanillin, depending on the organism and enzyme set.

As a thioester, feruloyl-CoA is highly reactive and serves as a substrate for acyltransferases, reductases, and other CoA-dependent enzymes. Its biology is of interest for understanding plant cell-wall biology and for biotechnological applications in biomass utilization.