ATP citrate lyase is the primary enzyme responsible for the synthesis of cytosolic acetyl-CoA in many tissues. The enzyme is a tetramer of apparently identical subunits. The product, acetyl-CoA, in animals serves several important biosynthetic pathways, including lipogenesis and cholesterogenesis. It is activated by insulin. In plants, ATP citrate lyase generates the acetyl-CoA for cytosolically-synthesized metabolites. (Acetyl-CoA is not transported across subcellular membranes of plants.) These include: elongated fatty acids (used in seed oils, membrane phospholipids, the ceramide moiety of sphingolipids, cuticle, cutin, and suberin); flavonoids; malonic acid; acetylated phenolics, alkaloids, isoprenoids, anthocyanins, and sugars; and, mevalonate-derived isoprenoids (e.g., sesquiterpenes, sterols, brassinosteroids); malonyl and acyl-derivatives (d-amino acids, malonylated flavonoids, acylated, prenylated and malonated proteins). De novo fatty acid biosynthesis in plants is plastidic, thus ATP citrate lyase is not important for this pathway.