Yale Solves Vitamin B5 Mystery Inside Your Cells

For decades, scientists knew that a molecule made from vitamin B5 keeps your cells alive and humming with energy, but they had no idea how it actually reached the places where it was needed most.

Yale researchers just solved that mystery. Their discovery reveals exactly how coenzyme A, a vital helper molecule your body makes from vitamin B5, travels into mitochondria, the tiny power plants inside your cells that keep everything running.

Here's why this matters. About 95% of coenzyme A lives inside mitochondria, where it helps turn food into energy and supports countless chemical reactions your body needs to survive. When something goes wrong with this system, the effects can ripple through multiple organs and contribute to serious diseases.

The challenge was that coenzyme A rarely exists alone inside cells. It constantly attaches to other molecules, creating 33 different combinations that are hard to track. Dr. Hongying Shen and her team at Yale School of Medicine developed a new technique using mass spectrometry to detect and measure all these variations at once.

Their experiments revealed something surprising. The enzyme that makes coenzyme A sits mainly outside mitochondria, not inside. When the researchers blocked the transport system they suspected was moving the molecule, coenzyme A levels inside mitochondria plummeted. The evidence was clear: cells actively shuttle this essential molecule exactly where it needs to go.

The Ripple Effect

This discovery opens new doors for treating diseases linked to mitochondrial problems and metabolism breakdowns. Mutations in the genes that make coenzyme A transporters have been connected to encephalomyopathy, a condition causing developmental delays, epilepsy, and muscle weakness. Problems with coenzyme A production have also been tied to neurodegenerative diseases.

Shen's team is now studying how brain cells regulate coenzyme A levels and how disruptions might contribute to neurodegeneration and psychiatric disorders. The work continues a century-long Yale tradition in metabolism research that dates back to the discovery of vitamins A and B.

Understanding exactly when and where treatments should target coenzyme A dysfunction could help doctors develop more precise therapies for conditions that currently have limited options.

The research shows how even tiny molecular transport systems inside our cells can make the difference between health and disease, and solving these puzzles brings us closer to healing.