One Carbon Metabolism Analysis

One-carbon units are organic groups containing one carbon atom, including methyl, methylenyl, methynyl, and formyl groups. It is mainly derived from the catabolism of amino acids, including serine, glycine, etc., and choline. Since these groups cannot exist in free form in living organisms, they are usually carried by their carrier tetrahydrofolate (THF) to participate in metabolic reactions, collectively known as one-carbon metabolism. One-carbon metabolism is composed of two parts: the Folate cycle and the Methionine cycle. Serine is the main source of one-carbon units.

One-carbon metabolic analysis is widely used in tumor research and drug development. One-carbon units in tumors are mainly derived from serine, and tumor cells increase the supply of one-carbon units through rapid uptake of exogenous serine. When exogenous serine is lacking, tumor cells can activate the serine synthesis pathway (SSP) to produce serine.

The rapid proliferation of tumor cells requires large amounts of nucleotides, and one-carbon units can be generated from purines and thymidines via the folate cycle. The folate cycle also provides NAD(P)H and ATP required for cell proliferation.

In the methionine cycle, one-carbon units can be used for homocysteine remethylation to re-produce methionine. S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is produced from methionine by the action of methionine adenosyltransferase, and the methyl group is transferred to various biomolecules, including proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, by the action of methyltransferase. Altered methylation of proteins, nucleotides, and metabolites can lead to the development of cancer.

Creative Proteomics provides targeted metabolomics analysis of one-carbon metabolism based on UPLC-MS/MS technology to detect specific target metabolites in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode.

The One Carbon Metabolites We Can Detect Include But Are Not Limited To

Sample Requirements

• Plasma/serum ≥10 µL
• Urine ≥10 µL
• Tissues ≥10 mg
• Cell ≥1×10⁶
• Plant ≥20 mg
• Feces ≥10 mg
• DBS ≥10 µL
• Cell medium ≥ 100 µL

Please contact us for other sample types and sizes.

Service Workflow

Deliverables

• Experimental procedure
• Parameters of LC and MS
• MS raw data files and MS data quality checks
• Metabolites quantification data
• Custom analysis report

Creative Proteomics offers several approaches to provide one carbon metabolism analysis service and deliver precise and detailed data and analysis report. If you want to detect other metabolites, you can tell us through the inquiry form, and our technicians will communicate with you.