diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage.go b/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage.go
index 995b58e435aa..28bbf41e13bb 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage.go
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func (p *storage) UpdateTimestamp(
 ) error {
 	row, err := p.ex.QueryRowEx(ctx, "protectedts-update", txn,
 		sessiondata.InternalExecutorOverride{User: username.NodeUserName()},
-		updateTimestampQuery, id.GetBytesMut(), timestamp.AsOfSystemTime())
+		updateTimestampQuery, id.GetBytesMut(), timestamp.WithSynthetic(false).AsOfSystemTime())
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to update record %v", id)
 	}
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func (p *storage) deprecatedProtect(
 		sessiondata.InternalExecutorOverride{User: username.NodeUserName()},
 		protectQueryWithoutTarget,
 		s.maxSpans, s.maxBytes, len(r.DeprecatedSpans),
-		r.ID, r.Timestamp.AsOfSystemTime(),
+		r.ID, r.Timestamp.WithSynthetic(false).AsOfSystemTime(),
 		r.MetaType, meta,
 		len(r.DeprecatedSpans), encodedSpans)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ func (p *storage) Protect(ctx context.Context, txn *kv.Txn, r *ptpb.Record) erro
 		sessiondata.InternalExecutorOverride{User: username.NodeUserName()},
 		protectQuery,
 		s.maxSpans, s.maxBytes, len(r.DeprecatedSpans),
-		r.ID, r.Timestamp.AsOfSystemTime(),
+		r.ID, r.Timestamp.WithSynthetic(false).AsOfSystemTime(),
 		r.MetaType, meta,
 		len(r.DeprecatedSpans), encodedTarget, encodedTarget)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage_test.go b/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage_test.go
index be96b9d0aa60..09706e822b64 100644
--- a/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kv/kvserver/protectedts/ptstorage/storage_test.go
@@ -314,6 +314,35 @@ var testCases = []testCase{
 			}),
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		name: "Protect using synthetic timestamp",
+		ops: []op{
+			funcOp(func(ctx context.Context, t *testing.T, tCtx *testContext) {
+				rec := newRecord(tCtx, tCtx.tc.Server(0).Clock().Now().WithSynthetic(true), "", nil, tableTarget(42),
+					tableSpan(42))
+				err := tCtx.db.Txn(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, txn *kv.Txn) error {
+					return tCtx.pts.Protect(ctx, txn, &rec)
+				})
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+				// Synthetic should be reset when writing timestamps to make it
+				// compatible with underlying sql schema.
+				rec.Timestamp.Synthetic = false
+				tCtx.state.Records = append(tCtx.state.Records, rec)
+				tCtx.state.Version++
+				tCtx.state.NumRecords++
+				tCtx.state.NumSpans += uint64(len(rec.DeprecatedSpans))
+				var encoded []byte
+				if tCtx.runWithDeprecatedSpans {
+					encoded, err = protoutil.Marshal(&ptstorage.Spans{Spans: rec.DeprecatedSpans})
+					require.NoError(t, err)
+				} else {
+					encoded, err = protoutil.Marshal(&ptpb.Target{Union: rec.Target.GetUnion()})
+					require.NoError(t, err)
+				}
+				tCtx.state.TotalBytes += uint64(len(encoded))
+			}),
+		},
+	},
 }
 
 type testContext struct {