Amino Acids
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Amino acids are organic compounds containing amine (-NH2) and carboxylic acid (-COOH) functional groups. The key elements that make up amino acids are: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Amino acids make up proteins, which is one of the four building blocks of life, second-largets component of human muscles, cells, and tissues. Amino acids also play essential role in critical processes such as neurotransmitter transport and biosynthesis.
There are five types of amino acid substitution: simple nonpolar, complex nonpolar, polar, acid/anionic, and basic/cationic.
| Amino Acid Side Chains |
| Classification |
Full Name |
Short-hand Name |
Chemical Structure |
| Nonpolar |
Glycine |
Gly |
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| Alanine |
Ala |
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| Valine |
Val |
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| Leucine |
Leu |
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| Isoleucine |
Ile |
 |
| Methionine |
Met |
 |
| Tryptophan |
Trp |
 |
| Phenylalanine |
Phe |
 |
| Proline |
Pro |
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| Polar |
Serine |
Ser |
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| Threonine |
Thr |
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| Cysteine |
Cys |
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| Tyrosine |
Tyr |
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| Asparagine |
Asn |
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| Glutamine |
Gln |
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| Acidic |
Aspartic Acid |
Asp |
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| Glutamic Acid |
Glu |
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| Basic |
Lysine |
Lys |
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| Arginine |
Arg |
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| Histidine |
His |
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