Microproteins in Metabolic Biology: Emerging Functions and Potential Roles as Nutrient-Linked Biomarkers

Microproteins are small polypeptides translated from short open reading frames (sORFs) that typically encode < 100 amino acids. Advances in ribosome profiling, mass spectrometry, and computational prediction have revealed a growing number of microproteins that play important roles in cellular metabolism, organelle function, and stress adaptation; however, these were considered non-coding or functionally insignificant. At the mitochondrial level, microproteins, such as MTLN (also known as mitoregulin/MOXI) and BRAWNIN, contribute to lipid oxidation, oxidative phosphorylation efficiency, and respiratory chain assembly. Other microproteins at the endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria interface, including PIGBOS and several muscle-resident regulators of calcium cycling, show diverse biological contexts in which these microproteins act. A subset of microproteins responds to nutrient availability. For example, SMIM26 modulates mitochondrial complex I translation under serine limitation, and non-coding RNA expressed in mesoderm-inducing cells encoded with peptides facilitates glucose uptake during differentiation, indicating that some microproteins can affect metabolic adaptation through localized translational- or organelle-level mechanisms. Rather than functioning as primary nutrient sensors, these microproteins complement classical nutrient-responsive pathways such as AMP-activated protein kinase-, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-, and carbohydrate response element binding protein-mediated signaling. As the catalog of microproteins continues to expand, integrating proteogenomics, nutrient biology, and functional studies will be central to defining their physiological relevance; these integrative approaches will also help reveal their potential applications in metabolic health.