Glycine betaine aldehyde, often simply called betaine aldehyde, is an intermediate in the metabolism of glycine,

serine Serine (symbol Ser or S) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated − form under biological conditions), a carboxyl group (which is in the deprotonated − form un ...

and

threonine Threonine (symbol Thr or T) is an amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated −NH form under biological conditions), a carboxyl group (which is in the deprotonated −COO� ...

. The human aldehyde dehydrogenase () stimulates the transformation of betaine aldehyde to glycine betaine. Betaine aldehyde is a substrate for

choline dehydrogenase In enzymology, a choline dehydrogenase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :choline + acceptor \rightleftharpoons betaine aldehyde + reduced acceptor Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are choline and acceptor, whereas i ...

(mitochondrial).

Chemical structure

Glycine betaine aldehyde is a short chain aldehyde and

quaternary ammonium compound In chemistry, quaternary ammonium cations, also known as quats, are positively charged polyatomic ions of the structure , R being an alkyl group or an aryl group. Unlike the ammonium ion () and the primary, secondary, or tertiary ammonium catio ...

. It can be considered a derivative of the amino acid glycine. Its chemical formula is C₅H₁₂NO⁺.

Biological function

Glycine betaine aldehyde is a component of glycine,

and

metabolism. It also serves as an osmolyte. It can be found in cytoplasm and

mitochondria A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and Fungus, fungi. Mitochondria have a double lipid bilayer, membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosi ...

within the kidney, neurons, and

stratum corneum The stratum corneum (Latin for 'horny layer') is the outermost layer of the epidermis. The human stratum corneum comprises several levels of flattened corneocytes that are divided into two layers: the ''stratum disjunctum'' and ''stratum compact ...

.
Human Metabolome Database

References

{{Reflist Aldehydes Quaternary ammonium compounds