Fig. 5: Reduction of pyruvate to lactate with 1,4-NMNH (n = 4) and 1,4-NADH (n = 4).

The method of the reaction was performed according to Mayer and Moran11 with the help of Fe(III) chloride as a catalyst in 17 h. Both nicotinamides perform equally well in this reaction. In both cases, lactate forms in comparable amounts (for original NMR spectra and quantification Supplementary Figs. S54 and S55, and Table S25). Unpaired t-test (two-tailed P value = 0.1303) shows the difference between NADH and NMNH-dependent pyruvate reduction to be not significant (ns). Circles represent individual data points, error bars show SD.