Threonine

An essential amino acid; a small part is broken down to glycine. Important as a building block of the mucus proteins (mucins) of the gut barrier and of antibodies.

What threonine does in the body

Threonine is essential and a particularly important building block of mucins – the large mucus proteins that form the mucus layer on the gut lining. Sugar chains are densely attached to the threonine and serine residues of the mucins, binding water and making the mucus gel-like. The gut therefore uses a large share of the threonine from food itself. Antibodies also contain relatively large amounts of threonine. In many proteins, threonine residues are given a phosphate group; in this way kinases switch enzymes and signalling pathways on and off. Threonine is broken down mainly to propionyl-CoA, which with biotin and vitamin B12 enters energy metabolism; a small part becomes glycine.

Low threonine – what happens in the body?

When little threonine is available, the gut lining produces fewer mucins; in animal studies the mucus layer became thinner and gut bacteria came closer to the gut cells. The production of antibodies and of proteins as a whole is also throttled. Low values occur with low protein intake, with a diet consisting mainly of cereals, which contain little threonine, and with inflammation of the gut lining, when consumption for mucus production rises.

High threonine – what does it mean?

A high value usually has no known consequence of its own, because the liver breaks down any excess. It occurs after protein-rich meals, when breakdown in the liver is slower, and temporarily when muscle protein is broken down into its amino acids to a greater extent.

The interpretation is given in your report.