The protein encoded by this gene, a member of the carnitine/choline acetyltransferase family, is the rate-controlling enzyme of the long-chain fatty acid beta-oxidation pathway in muscle mitochondria. This enzyme is required for the net transport of long-chain fatty acyl-CoAs from the cytoplasm into the mitochondria. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene, and read-through transcripts are expressed from the upstream locus that include exons from this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2009].