Malic enzyme 3

ME3
Identifiers
Aliases	ME3, NADP-ME, malic enzyme 3
External IDs	OMIM: 604626; MGI: 1916679; GeneCards: ME3
Enzyme activity
Gene location (Human)
Chr.	Chromosome 11 (human)
End	86,672,636 bp
Gene location (Mouse)
Chr.	Chromosome 7 (mouse)
End	89,503,567 bp
RNA expression pattern
	Top expressed in
	apex of heart; ; left ovary; ; anterior pituitary; ; nasal epithelium; ; lateral nuclear group of thalamus; ; right ovary; ; right adrenal cortex; ; canal of the cervix; ; left adrenal cortex; ; caudate nucleus;
	Top expressed in
	interventricular septum; ; muscle of thigh; ; dentate gyrus of hippocampal formation granule cell; ; superior frontal gyrus; ; skeletal muscle tissue; ; visual cortex; ; primary visual cortex; ; quadriceps femoris muscle; ; tibialis anterior muscle; ; knee joint;
	More reference expression data
	n/a
Gene ontology
Molecular function	malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating) (NAD+) activity; oxidoreductase activity; NAD binding; oxaloacetate decarboxylase activity; metal ion binding; malic enzyme activity; malate dehydrogenase (decarboxylating) (NADP+) activity;
Cellular component	mitochondrion; mitochondrial matrix;
Biological process	aerobic dissimilation; oxygen metabolic process; pyruvate metabolic process; malate metabolic process; tricarboxylic acid cycle;
	Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs
Databases	NCBI: entry; OMA: entry
	10873
	109264
	ENSG00000151376
	ENSMUSG00000030621
	Q16798; Q6TCH8
	Q8BMF3
	NM_001014811; NM_001161586; NM_006680; NM_001351934; NM_001395868
	NM_181407
NP_001014811; NP_001155058; NP_006671; NP_001338863; NP_001014811.1;
	NP_006671.2
	NP_852072
	Wikidata
View/Edit Human	View/Edit Mouse

Malic enzyme 3, also called mitochondrial NADP-dependent malic enzyme, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the gene ME3. This enzyme function acts as a NADP-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME, EC 1.1.1.40), meaning it can act on both malate and oxaloacetate to (ultimately) produce pyruvate. Unlike malic enzyme 1, the other NADP-ME found in humans, this form is found in the mitochondria.

Function

As a NADP-dependent malic enzyme, also called malate dehydrogenase (oxaloacetate-decarboxylating, NADP+) (EC 1.1.1.40), this enzyme catalyzes the following pair of reactions:

(S)-malate + NADP⁺ ⇌ pyruvate + CO₂ + NADPH

oxaloacetate + H⁺ → pyruvate + CO₂

Malic enzymes like ME3 function to link glycolosis to the citric acid cycle. Mutations in ME3 have not yet been associated with any disease, which is suggestive that its role may be redundant with the mitochondrial NAD-dependent malic enzyme ME2.

References

1 2 3 GRCh38: Ensembl release 89: ENSG00000151376 – Ensembl, May 2017
1 2 3 GRCm38: Ensembl release 89: ENSMUSG00000030621 – Ensembl, May 2017
↑ "Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
↑ "Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
1 2 3 4 "NADP-dependent malic enzyme, mitochondrial". uniprot.org. UniProt consortium. Retrieved 2026-10-23.
↑ "NADP-dependent malic enzyme". uniprot.org. UniProt consortium. Retrieved 2026-10-23.
1 2 Prochownik EV, Wang H (2021-03-30). "The metabolic fates of pyruvate in normal and neoplastic cells". Cells. 10 (4): 762. doi:10.3390/cells10040762. PMC 8066905.
↑ Kang W, Suzuki M, Saito T, Miyado K (2021-12-02). "Emerging role of TCA cycle-related enzymes in human diseases". International journal of molecular sciences. 22 (23): 13057. doi:10.3390/ijms222313057. PMC 8657694.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)

This article on a gene on human chromosome 11 is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[refGRCh38Ensembl-1] 1 2 3 GRCh38: Ensembl release 89: ENSG00000151376 – Ensembl, May 2017

[refGRCm38Ensembl-2] 1 2 3 GRCm38: Ensembl release 89: ENSMUSG00000030621 – Ensembl, May 2017

[3] "Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

[4] "Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

[uniprot-5] 1 2 3 4 "NADP-dependent malic enzyme, mitochondrial". uniprot.org. UniProt consortium. Retrieved 2026-10-23.

[6] "NADP-dependent malic enzyme". uniprot.org. UniProt consortium. Retrieved 2026-10-23.

[Prochownik-7] 1 2 Prochownik EV, Wang H (2021-03-30). "The metabolic fates of pyruvate in normal and neoplastic cells". Cells. 10 (4): 762. doi:10.3390/cells10040762. PMC 8066905.

[8] Kang W, Suzuki M, Saito T, Miyado K (2021-12-02). "Emerging role of TCA cycle-related enzymes in human diseases". International journal of molecular sciences. 22 (23): 13057. doi:10.3390/ijms222313057. PMC 8657694.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)