The core mechanism: AICAR and AMPK
The dominant model for MOTS-c is metabolic. Rather than docking onto one receptor, MOTS-c is proposed to nudge one-carb…
How a mitochondrial peptide flips the cell’s energy switch
The dominant model for MOTS-c is metabolic. Rather than docking onto one receptor, MOTS-c is proposed to nudge one-carbon metabolism (the folate and purine pathways), causing the intermediate AICAR to build up. AICAR is a natural activator of AMPK, the cell’s master low-energy sensor, so MOTS-c ends up switching AMPK on indirectly.
Once AMPK is active, the downstream effects read like a catalog of "good metabolism": more glucose uptake, more fat burning, and a push toward mitochondrial biogenesis. This unit walks that chain step by step and stays honest about a key nuance: the link is metabolic rewiring upstream of AMPK, not a simple direct handshake, and almost all of it is mouse and cell data.