malate; malic acid

Biochemistry

• an intermediate metabolite in the citric acid cycle
• formed from fumarate via fumarase
  • enzyme: fumarase
  • substrates: fumarate + H2O
  • product: malate
• metabolized to oxaloacetate via malate dehydrogenase
  • enzyme: malate dehydrogenase
  • substrates: malate + NAD+
  • products: oxaloacetate + NADH

* see citric acid cycle for role of malate in citric acid cycle

Laboratory

• malate in serum/plasma
• malate/creatinine in urine

More general terms

• dicarboxylate
• alpha-hydroxy carboxylate (alpha-hydroxy acid)
• intermediary metabolite

Additional terms

• citric acid cycle, Krebs cycle or tricarboxylic acid [TCA] cycle

Component of

• arginine/malate

Database

• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=525