Belongs to the short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases family.

Also oxidizes (S)-3-hydroxyacyl-N-acylthioethanolamine and (S)-3-hydroxyacyl-hydrolipoate. Some enzymes act, more slowly, with NADP+.

Some enzymes act, more slowly, with NADP+.

Broad specificity to acyl chain-length.

3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase is an enzyme involved in fatty acid metabolism, it catalyzes the reduction of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA to 3-oxoacyl-CoA. Most eukaryotic cells have 2 fatty-acid beta-oxidation systems, one located in mitochondria and the other in peroxisomes. In peroxisomes 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase forms, with enoyl-CoA hydratase (ECH) and
3,2-trans-enoyl-CoA isomerase (ECI) a multifunctional enzyme where the N-terminal domain bears the hydratase/isomerase activities and the C-terminal domain the dehydrogenase activity. There are two mitochondrial enzymes: one which is monofunctional and the other which is, like its peroxisomal counterpart, multifunctional.

Structurally related to bacterial 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.157) .

There are two major region of similarities in the sequences of proteins of the HCDH family, the first one located in the N-terminal, corresponds to the NAD- binding site, the second one is located in the center of the sequence. It has been chosen to derive a signature pattern from this central region.
Reference