MOTS-c

Intermittent schedules, exercise timing, widely divergent dose conventions, and the emerging human trial that is beginning to test what the community has been improvising for years.

They are both mitochondrial peptides, and they are almost opposites — one a natural signal that tells cells to adapt, the other a synthetic molecule that physically stabilizes the membrane. Comparing them is the clearest way to see how many angles mitochondrial medicine really has.

A tiny peptide encoded inside the mitochondria may help explain how our cells adapt to exercise and metabolic stress — and it is opening a fascinating window into the biology of aging.