Molecular mechanism

AMPK signaling

A serine/threonine kinase complex that senses low cellular ATP and phosphorylates substrates that increase ATP generation and decrease ATP consumption. Reported as a central mediator of the cellular response to energetic stress and of multiple aspects of mitochondrial homeostasis.

Type: signaling-pathwayPublished: 2026-09-04Literature/identifier verification: 2026-08-23

See this target on the receptor map

AMP-activated protein kinaseAMPK pathway

Neutral molecular overview

Target identifiers

Gene symbols: PRKAA1, PRKAA2

Related compounds

Compound

MOTS-c

MOTS-c is a sixteen-amino-acid peptide encoded by a short open reading frame within the mitochondrial 12S rRNA, rather than by the nuclear genome.

Related mechanisms

No related mechanism is declared in this seed record.

Verified bibliography

Reference 1
AMPK: guardian of metabolism and mitochondrial homeostasis.
Herzig S, Shaw RJ
Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2017-10-04 · Review
current
PMID 28974774 PMC5780224 DOI 10.1038/nrm.2017.95 MOTS-c AMP-activated protein kinase
Reference 2
The mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c promotes metabolic homeostasis and reduces obesity and insulin resistance.
Lee C, Zeng J, Drew BG, Sallam T, Martin-Montalvo A, Wan J, Kim SJ, Mehta H, Hevener AL, de Cabo R, Cohen P
Cell metabolism · 2015-03-03 · Journal Article
current
PMID 25738459 PMC4350682 DOI 10.1016/j.cmet.2015.02.009 MOTS-c Humanin (HN)SHLP2 SHLP3 SHLP6 AMP-activated protein kinase
Reference 3
The Mitochondrial-Encoded Peptide MOTS-c Translocates to the Nucleus to Regulate Nuclear Gene Expression in Response to Metabolic Stress.
Kim KH, Son JM, Benayoun BA, Lee C
Cell metabolism · 2018-07-05 · Journal Article
current
PMID 29983246 PMC6185997 DOI 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.06.008 MOTS-c AMP-activated protein kinase

Study models of these references

What kind of experiment each cited paper reports, taken from its abstract unless marked. Not a summary of results.

Reference	Study models
Herzig S et al. 2017	Review article
Lee C et al. 2015	Study models reported: in vitro; animal (mouse) · from the full text
Kim KH et al. 2018	Study models reported: in vitro · from the full text

Related glossary terms

Agonist Ligand G-protein-coupled receptor