MOTS-C 10mg Vial

MOTS-c is short for "mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA type-c". Unlike almost every peptide in a research catalogue, its code sits in mitochondrial DNA rather than in the cell nucleus. The 16-residue sequence is MRWQEMGYIFYPRKLR.

A University of Southern California group led by Changhan Lee and Pinchas Cohen described it in *Cell Metabolism* in 2015. That paper helped establish a small family of mitochondrial-derived peptides (MDPs), which also includes humanin and the SHLP peptides. Researchers treat these molecules as messages sent from mitochondria to the rest of the cell, a direction of traffic usually called retrograde signalling.

Most of what is known comes from cell culture and rodents. Human studies so far measure the body's own circulating MOTS-c, which tends to be lower in older people and in type 2 diabetes cohorts and rises after endurance exercise. No peer-reviewed trial giving MOTS-c to people has been published, so human data are limited.

Remy Research supplies this 10mg vial as lyophilised material for in-vitro and animal-model laboratory work. For research use only. Not for human or veterinary use. The full literature review is on our MOTS-c research profile.

A short summary of the format, documentation and handling behind the ProPeptide-labelled MOTS-c 10mg vial sold by Remy Research.

Lyophilised powder in a sealed vial

The peptide ships as a freeze-dried solid in a crimp-sealed glass vial, the usual format for laboratory storage and handling of short peptides.

Stated purity standard

The line is specified to a ≥99% HPLC standard. HPLC shows how clean a sample is; mass spectrometry is what confirms identity, and a good certificate reports both.

Honest batch documentation

Remy Research publishes batch-specific reports in the lab results library. Check there for coverage of this product before you order; we do not claim a published batch report where none exists.

Cold-chain delivery across the UAE

Every shipment travels in cold-chain packaging held between 2–8°C. Dubai orders placed before 4 PM go out same day, and most arrive within 4 hours. The other six emirates get next-day delivery when you order before 12 PM (noon).

Research framing, no shortcuts

We describe what the published studies report and where the evidence stops. We do not offer medical advice, and nothing on this page suggests a personal or clinical benefit.

Three lines of evidence recur in the MOTS-c literature. All of them come mainly from cell and rodent work.

Folate pathway, AICAR and AMPK

The 2015 Lee et al. paper reported that MOTS-c interferes with the folate-methionine pathway in skeletal muscle. That shift lets AICAR build up, and AICAR switches on AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), the enzyme cells use to sense their energy state. When AMPK signalling was knocked out, the reported metabolic effects disappeared.

Glucose handling in mouse models

In mice fed a high-fat diet, MOTS-c treatment was reported to improve glucose tolerance, raise glucose uptake in skeletal muscle and limit diet-induced weight gain and insulin resistance. These are animal findings and have not been tested in a published human trial.

Moving into the nucleus under stress

A 2018 *Cell Metabolism* study from the same group found that MOTS-c travels from the mitochondria into the nucleus when cells are starved of glucose or under oxidative stress. There it was linked to NRF2 and to changes in the expression of antioxidant and metabolic genes.

Exercise and ageing signals

A 2021 *Nature Communications* paper reported that MOTS-c levels rise in human muscle with exercise and that treating older mice improved their physical capacity. Lower circulating levels with age are an association in people, not proof of an effect.

MOTS-c is often grouped loosely with other "mitochondrial" peptides, but the research questions differ. MOTS-c is studied as a metabolic signal: AMPK activity, glucose uptake and stress-driven gene expression. SS-31 (elamipretide) is a synthetic tetrapeptide studied for binding cardiolipin in the inner mitochondrial membrane, with endpoints such as cristae structure and electron-transport efficiency.

SS-31 also has a longer record of clinical-development literature, while MOTS-c remains largely preclinical. Pick the compound that matches the endpoint you plan to measure. Our MOTS-c vs SS-31 comparison covers this in depth, and the SS-31 10mg vial is listed separately.