Physiological Effects and Metabolism of Itaconic acid

The inhibitory effect of itaconic acid on isocitrate lyase can also be used in a completely different context as a selection tool. It was found that itaconate-resistant strains from Ashbyagossypi accumulate more riboflavin when using plant oil as carbon source [44]. Accordingly, itaconic acid can be used to select strains producing riboflavin from vegetable oil. The itaconic acid-resistant strains have a higher isocitrate lyase activity and can thus better use the acetyl-CoA formed by the -oxidation pathway [45]. 

Very recently, it was described that itaconic acid is also involved in the impairment of substrate-level phosphorylation in mitochondria. Substrate-level phosphorylation means the formation of ATP or GTP by the transfer of a phosphate (group) from a reactive intermediate to ADP or GDP. In the mitochondria, the reaction from succinyl-CoA toward succinate leads to the formation of ATP (or GTP). Three mechanisms were identified recently by Nemeth et al. as to how 

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