nutrient
Alanine
An amino acid that links nitrogen handling with pyruvate metabolism.
Educational draft · Human scientific and editorial review pending. About review status
Alanine can carry amino nitrogen between tissues while its carbon portion enters central energy pathways.
How it works
A nitrogen and carbon carrier
Alanine can be made from pyruvate by transamination, a reversible reaction that swaps an amino group between molecules. Removing the amino group returns its carbon portion to pyruvate.
Related topics
Alanine is used to build Protein
Alanine is one of the amino acids used to assemble proteins.
Evidence: Established · Source checked 2026-09-05 · Sources: NIH National Library of Medicine: Biochemistry, Essential Amino Acids
Worth knowing
It can form pyruvate. After nitrogen is removed, alanine can form pyruvate, a starting material for making glucose.
Synthesis makes it non-essential. Human cells can make alanine from pyruvate by transamination.
A closer look
The reaction runs both ways
Tissues can convert pyruvate to alanine when nitrogen needs carrying, or alanine back to pyruvate when carbon is needed.
Transamination is reversible
The direction of alanine and pyruvate exchange depends on tissue, nitrogen availability and metabolic state.
References
Source-checked local draft.
Human editorial review pending.
Take it into the kitchen
Explore this nutrient in simple meals. Recipe pages show estimated amounts and missing data.
Chicken corn tortilla fold · 20 min →
Pineapple cashew chicken pan · 25 min →
Chicken cabbage ginger rice · 20 min →
Compare meals by alanine →