Degradation
Glycine is degraded via three pathways. The predominant pathway in animals and plants involves the glycine cleavage enzyme
- Glycine + tetrahydrofolate + NAD+ → CO2 + NH4+ + N5,N10-Methylene tetrahydrofolate + NADH + H+
In the second pathway, glycine is degraded in two steps. The first step is the reverse of glycine biosynthesis from serine with serine hydroxymethyl transferase. Serine is then converted to pyruvate by serine dehydratase.
In the third pathway of glycine degradation, glycine is converted to glyoxylate by D-amino acid oxidase. Glyoxylate is then oxidized by hepatic lactate dehydrogenase to oxalate in an NAD+-dependent reaction.
The half-life of glycine and its elimination from the body varies significantly based on dose. In one study, the half-life was between 0.5 and 4.0 hours.
Read more about this topic: Glycine
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