Glyceric acid is a natural three - carbon sugar acid . Salts and esters of glyceric acid are known as glycerates.
DL-Glyceric Acid (20% in water) is a metabolite of plants and mammals and exists in two configurations, D and L[1].
ChEBI: Glyceric acid is a trionic acid that consists of propionic acid substituted at positions 2 and 3 by hydroxy groups. It has a role as a fundamental metabolite. It is functionally related to a propionic acid. It is a conjugate acid of a glycerate.
Biotechnological Applications
Several phosphate derivatives of glyceric acid, including 2- phospho glyceric acid, 3-phosphoglyceric acid, 2,3-bi sphospho glyceric acid, and 1,3-bi sphospho glyceric acid, are important biochemical intermediates in Glycolysis.
DL-Glyceric Acid (20% in water) is normally present in trace amounts in urine. Its different configurations, D-glyceric acid and L-glyceric acid, can respectively serve as biochemical markers for rare inherited metabolic disorders, D-glyceric aciduria and primary hyperoxaluria type 2[1].
Microbial Metabolite; Human Endogenous Metabolite
[1] Rashed MS, et al. Chiral liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry in the determination of the configuration of glyceric acid in urine of patients with D-glyceric and L-glyceric acidurias. Biomed Chromatogr. 2002 May;16(3):191-8. DOI:
10.1002/bmc.126
