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Not medical advice. The Atlas is not a substitute for a clinician who can examine you.

Gly-MOTS-c

Stabilized MOTS-c Analog

Evidence grade 1 of 5, Untested. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.

Native MOTS-c, the 16-amino-acid mitochondrial-derived peptide first described by Lee and Cohen (Cell Metabolism, 2015), rests on mouse and cell-culture data plus cross-sectional human correlations, with no completed intervention trial of the native peptide. The one genuinely stabilized analog, CohBar's CB4211, completed a small Phase 1a/1b that reported statistically significant reductions in ALT, AST and glucose versus placebo over four weeks, but that lone early-phase study was never advanced and the program was discontinued when CohBar dissolved. As sold to consumers, a 'stabilized MOTS-c analog' is an unapproved research chemical with animal and in-vitro support only, so grade 1 is honest.

FDA
No FDA approval. The one clinically tested analog, CB4211, completed a single Phase 1a/1b study and was discontinued when CohBar dissolved; consumer 'MOTS-c analog' products are sold as research chemicals, not for human use.
WADA
Prohibited at all times. Native MOTS-c is named on the WADA Prohibited List under S4 (Hormone and Metabolic Modulators); analogs of a prohibited substance are likewise prohibited by the List's related-compounds language.

Reference only. Not medical advice.

What can go wrong

Unapproved research chemical; the only human data on any stabilized analog is one small Phase 1 (CB4211) reporting mild-to-moderate injection-site reactions, with no long-term safety data.

Talk to a clinician before taking this. The Atlas can tell you what has been studied about Gly-MOTS-c. It cannot tell you how it would interact with your body, your history, or anything else you are taking, and nothing on this page is a reason to start.

A stabilized synthetic analog of MOTS-c in clinical development to overcome the native peptide's synthesis and stability challenges. Earliest stage of development.

What people take it for

These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.

  • Metabolic syndrome (development)
  • Exercise mimetic

How it is supposed to work

Gly-MOTS-c is a modified version of the mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c, with a glycine substitution intended to make it more stable and longer-lasting. It is meant to do what MOTS-c does, activate the cellular energy sensor AMPK and improve glucose and fat metabolism in muscle, the exercise-mimetic effect, while resisting the rapid breakdown that limits the natural peptide.

Gly-MOTS-c is MOTS-c with a glycine substitution intended to improve stability and resist the aggregation and rapid breakdown that complicate the native peptide. It is a research-stage analog, and its underlying biology is MOTS-c’s.

Type
MOTS-c analog
Modification
Glycine for stability
Parent
Mitochondrial peptide
Human trials
None
Approved
No
Stage
Research

A Stabilized MOTS-c, Riding The Parent’s Preclinical Data

Gly-MOTS-c is a manufacturing and stability refinement of MOTS-c, so the MOTS-c entry holds the substance. MOTS-c is a genuinely interesting mitochondrial-derived peptide with a coherent exercise-mimetic and metabolic story in animals, an awkward synthesis, a short half-life, and human evidence that is still observational and early-stage rather than proof that injecting it helps healthy people. A glycine-stabilized analog addresses the practical headaches of working with the peptide, but it does not change the evidence situation: there are no completed human efficacy or safety trials, no approval and no established dosing, and the longevity and performance uses run ahead of what is known. It is a more workable form of a promising but unproven research peptide.

Safety in detail

Evidence is animal, in-vitro and one discontinued early-phase human study. No approved analog exists, purity and dosing of research-chemical products are unverified, and native MOTS-c is banned in sport.

  • No human safety or efficacy data exists for this analog specifically.
  • It inherits the unknowns of MOTS-c, whose own human evidence is early and inconsistent.
  • As an AMPK-activating metabolic modulator, athletes should treat it as prohibited.
  • Sold only as gray-market research material with the usual identity and purity risks.
  • Not approved anywhere.

Children and teenagers

Gly-MOTS-c has no validated pediatric use and is an unapproved research-stage peptide. There is no appropriate pediatric use.

What people get wrong

Nothing recorded here yet. There is almost certainly something people get wrong about this one, and the blank space means we have not written it down, not that the record is clean.

Who profits, and who pushes back

Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.

Gly-MOTS-c reaches users through the gray-market and research-reagent channels that supply MOTS-c, aimed at metabolic health and longevity. There is no approved product, and its market runs on preclinical promise.

How we got here

Native MOTS-c was discovered around 2012 and characterized in 2015 by Changhan David Lee and Pinchas Cohen and colleagues as a 16-amino-acid peptide encoded within the mitochondrial 12S rRNA that activates AMPK and improves insulin sensitivity. Because the native peptide has poor stability and a short half-life, Cohen's company CohBar engineered a modified, stabilized analog designated CB4211, which it advanced through a completed Phase 1a/1b study for NASH and obesity that reported significant reductions in ALT, AST and glucose. CohBar dissolved and the CB4211 program was discontinued, leaving no approved product, so the 'stabilized MOTS-c analog' sold today circulates as an unapproved research chemical under generic descriptors rather than any cleared brand name.

Gly-MOTS-c arose from the practical difficulty of working with native MOTS-c, which is prone to aggregation and short-lived in the body. A glycine substitution was introduced to make a sturdier, more usable analog, which entered research and the gray market alongside MOTS-c itself.

The numbers behind the grade

Type
MOTS-c analog
Modification
Glycine substitution
Goal
Greater stability
Stage
Preclinical/obscure
Approved
No
Evidence
Minimal

The people taking it

A niche, more obscure cousin of MOTS-c, marketed to biohackers wanting a more stable version, but with even less evidence behind it.

Gly-MOTS-c’s users are metabolic-health and longevity enthusiasts and the mitochondrial-peptide research community, drawn by the exercise-mimetic narrative.

Used gray-market by biohackers as a purportedly longer-acting MOTS-c for metabolic and exercise-mimetic goals; not approved and barely studied.

Set against the alternatives

Gly-MOTS-c is the stabilized form of MOTS-c and belongs to the same mitochondrial-derived-peptide group as Humanin and the SHLPs. Against the engineered mitochondrial peptide SS-31, which has at least reached approval for a rare disease, Gly-MOTS-c is earlier and unproven in humans. Its profile is MOTS-c’s, made more practical to handle.

What we do not know

  • Whether the glycine modification actually improves stability and effect meaningfully.
  • Whether it shares MOTS-c’s metabolic effects in humans, still unproven.
  • What its safety profile is, entirely uncharacterized.

The market for this

What follows describes how this is bought and sold. It is not a buying guide and it is not an endorsement of any seller.

Available only as research-use-only material from peptide vendors, not for human use. With even less data than MOTS-c, it is a speculative choice; a third-party certificate of analysis is the minimum precaution.

Synthesized overseas, predominantly in China, and sold as research material with no quality assurance; a certificate of analysis is the only check.

What this entry does not yet cover

What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Gly-MOTS-c.

  • Timeline. We have not built the dated record of research and regulatory events.
  • Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
  • What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.

Sources

The studies that matter

  • MOTS-c biology2015-2020s

    The parent peptide MOTS-c activates AMPK and improves metabolic flexibility in animal models, the basis for analog development.

  • Analog stabilization2020s

    Glycine-modified MOTS-c analogs are designed to improve stability and duration, though published data on this specific analog is limited.

  • Human trialsnone

    There are no completed human trials of Gly-MOTS-c; like MOTS-c itself, it is investigational, and the analog is even less studied.