L-Cysteine metabolism and its nutritional implications.
L-Cysteine is a nutritionally semiessential amino acid and is present mainly in the form of L-cystine in the extracellular space. With the help of a transport system, extracellular L-cystine crosses the plasma membrane and is reduced to L-cysteine within cells by thioredoxin and reduced glutathione (GSH). Intracellular L-cysteine plays an important role in cellular homeostasis as a precursor for protein synthesis, and for production of GSH, hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S), and taurine. L-Cysteine-dependent synthesis of GSH has been investigated in many pathological conditions, while the pathway for L-cysteine metabolism to form H(2)S has received little attention with regard to prevention and treatment of disease in humans. The main objective of this review is to highlight the metabolic pathways of L-cysteine catabolism to GSH, H(2)S, and taurine, with special emphasis on therapeutic and nutritional use of L-cysteine to improve the health and well-being of animals and humans.
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jie
J
Yin
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Wenkai
W
Ren
Department of Animal Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Guan
G
Yang
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jielin
J
Duan
Department of Animal Science, Hunan Agriculture University, Changsha, China.
Xingguo
X
Huang
Department of Animal Science, Hunan Agriculture University, Changsha, China.
Rejun
R
Fang
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Chongyong
C
Li
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Tiejun
T
Li
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.|School of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China.
Yulong
Y
Yin
Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Animal Nutrition and Feed Safety, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, China.
Yongqing
Y
Hou
Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Sung Woo
SW
Kim
Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China.|Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Animal Nutrition and Feed Safety, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, China.|Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Guoyao
G
Wu
D000818:Animals; D003545:Cysteine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000378:metabolism; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D013654:Taurine / Q000378:metabolism
D013654:Taurine; D005978:Glutathione; D003545:Cysteine; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide
GSH; H2S; Nutritional potential; Taurine; l-Cysteine