Amino acid
hideIn chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule containing both amine and carboxyl functional groups. These molecules are particularly important in biochemistry, where this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent. In the alpha amino acids, the amino and carboxylate groups are attached to the same carbon atom, which is called the α–carbon. The various alpha amino acids differ in which side chain (R group) is attached to their alpha carbon. They can vary in size from just a hydrogen atom in glycine through a methyl group in alanine to a large heterocyclic group in tryptophan.
Amino acids are critical to life, and have a variety of roles in metabolism. One particularly important function is as the building blocks of proteins, which are linear chains of amino acids. Amino acids are also important in many other biological molecules, such as forming parts of coenzymes, as in S-adenosylmethionine, or as precursors for the biosynthesis of molecules such as heme. Due to this central role in biochemistry, amino acids are very important in nutrition.
Amino acids are commonly used in food technology and industry. For example, monosodium glutamate is a common flavor enhancer that gives foods the taste called umami. Beyond the amino acids that are found in all forms of life, amino acids are also used in industry. Applications include the production of biodegradable plastics, drugs and chiral catalysts.
For more information about Amino acid, read the full article at
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News tagged with amino acids
Biologists discover bacterial defense mechanism against aggressive oxygen
20 hours ago |
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Bacteria possess an ingenious mechanism for preventing oxygen from harming the building blocks of the cell. This is the new finding of a team of biologists that includes Joris Messens of VIB, a life sciences research institute ...
Don't Blame Tryptophan for Thanksgiving Snooze
Nov 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Blame it on the heavy meal, the alcohol, or simply the opportunity afforded by a free afternoon on a traditional holiday. Just don't blame it on the tryptophan, say experts at the University ...
Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found (w/ Video)
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single ...
An atomic-level look at an HIV accomplice
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Since the discovery in 2007 that a component of human semen called SEVI boosts infectivity of the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have been trying to learn more about SEVI and how it works, in hopes of ...
Researchers discover key to vital DNA, protein interaction
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A researcher at Iowa State University has discovered how a group of proteins from plant pathogenic bacteria interact with DNA in the plant cell, opening up the possibility for what the scientist ...
Blood test identifies women at risk from Alzheimer's
Nov 06, 2009 |
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Middle-aged women with high levels of a specific amino acid in their blood are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer's many years later, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. ...
New discoveries in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Nov 04, 2009 |
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Researchers at UAB in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, have discovered the structure of the PPC descarboxilase (PPCDC) enzyme present in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a very important ...
New model may help scientists better predict and prevent influenza outbreaks
Oct 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Each year, the influenza virus evolves. And each year, public health officials try to predict what the new strain will be and how it will affect the population in order to best combat it.
Artificial reddener: New synthetic route for EPO and other glycoprotein analogues
Oct 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Erythropoetin, abbreviated EPO, has gained a scandalous reputation as a doping agent for racing cyclists. The name is derived from the ancient Greek erythros "red" and poiein “to make”, a fitting designation ...
Fish vision discovery makes waves in natural selection
Oct 16, 2009 |
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Emory University researchers have identified the first fish known to have switched from ultraviolet vision to violet vision, or the ability to see blue light. The discovery is also the first example of an ...
'Spaghetti' scaffolding could help grow skin in labs
Oct 16, 2009 |
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Scientists are developing new scaffolding technology which could be used to grow tissues such as skin, nerves and cartilage using 3D spaghetti-like structures. Their research is highlighted in the latest issue of Business, the qu ...
Deep-Sea Microbes May Answer Long-Standing Question About Earth's Nitrogen Cycle
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have identified an unexpected metabolic ability in a symbiotic community of deep-sea microorganisms. It may help solve a lingering mystery about the world's nitrogen cycle.
Receptor activated exclusively by glutamate discovered on tongue
Oct 09, 2009 |
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One hundred years ago, Kikunae Ikeda discovered the flavour-giving properties of glutamate, a non essential amino acid traditionally used to enhance the taste of many fermented or ripe foods, such as ripe ...
Transplanted Liver Cells Hold Hope for Treating Inherited Diseases
Oct 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Mike Gibson, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Michigan Technological University, has spent most of his professional life trying to better understand genetic metabolic disorders ...
Space Hand-Me-Downs
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 18, 2009 |
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Molecules vital to life have been detected in outer space and isolated in meteorites and comets. Some of this material that rained down on Earth may have jump-started biology. If so, these space seeds also ...
