MOTS-c Review - Frontiers
Zheng, Wei, Wang/Frontiers/2023
Why It Matters
This paper caught my attention because MOTS-c represents a fascinating intersection of mitochondrial biology and metabolic health — it's literally a message from your mitochondria to your nucleus. The age-related decline in circulating levels is intriguing for longevity optimization, but here's the reality check: this is a review paper summarizing existing research, not new experimental data. The authors acknowledge MOTS-c "has been used less frequently in disease treatment" and there's "no effective method of applying MOTS-c in the clinic." Translation: interesting biology, but we're far from knowing optimal dosing, delivery methods, or long-term safety in humans.
Key Findings
- MOTS-c is encoded by the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene and translocates to the nucleus during metabolic stress to regulate nuclear gene expression
- Circulating MOTS-c levels decrease with age, suggesting potential relevance for age-related metabolic decline
- Studies show MOTS-c improves glucose metabolism specifically in skeletal muscle tissue, the primary site of insulin-mediated glucose uptake
- Proposed therapeutic targets include diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, and aging-related metabolic dysfunction
- Despite promising preclinical research, no clinically validated methods exist for therapeutic MOTS-c administration — this remains in early research stages