An idle PHGDH takes control of cell fate

Multifunctional metabolites are widely involved in physiolo-gical and pathological processes as signaling molecules,sensors,epigenetic modification substrates and so on,in addition to being energy substances.In a recent Cell Research study,Wu et al.make a remarkable discovery that,when the level of 3-phosphoglycerate,a typical metabolite at the crossroads of glucose catabolism and serine anabolism,is low,the unoccupied 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase is redirected to watch the cell fate.