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A Review of Amino Acids

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This brief tutorial covers the chemical and structural properties of the 20 Amino Acids commonly found in proteins.

The tutorial contains a number of graphic images, it may take a while to download, so please be patient. After reviewing the amino acids, try out the Interactive Quiz.

Note: The quiz requires a browser that recognises Frames and JavaScript, for example - Netscape Navigator 2.0 or above.


Amino Acid Properties

Amino acids are the basic structural units of proteins. An alpha-amino acid consists of an amino group, a carboxyl group, a hydrogen atom, and a distinctive R group bonded to a carbon atom, which is called the alpha-carbon because it is adjacent to the carboxyl (acidic) group. An R group is referred to as a side chain.(Stryer,1988)

Amino Acids are commonly classified into the following groups based on the chemical and/or structural properties of their side chains :

Amino Acid Structures

To view the amino acid structures using Rasmol click on the appropriate amino acid images below. A script is available (aacolors) to color the molecules as per the image.

When you are finished viewing the amino acid, type
zap (enter)
in the command line window to close the current molecule before selecting another amino acid for viewing. Quit the Rasmol application by typing
exit (enter)
in the command line window. Consult the online Rasmol Manual if you need further help using Rasmol.

Rasmol Image Amino Acid 3-letter
code
1-letter
code
Properties Structure
(un-ionised form)
Amino Acid Alanine Ala A aliphatic
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Arginine Arg R polar
hydrophilic
charged (+)
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Asparagine Asn N polar
hydrophilic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Aspartate Asp D polar
hydrophilic
charged (-)
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Cysteine Cys C polar
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Glutamine Gln Q polar
hydrophilic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Glutamate Glu E polar
hydrophilic
charged (-)
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Glycine Gly G aliphatic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Histidine His H aromatic
polar
hydrophilic
charged (+)
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Isoleucine Ile I aliphatic
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Leucine Leu L aliphatic
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Lysine Lys K polar
hydrophilic
charged (+)
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Methionine Met M hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Phenylalanine Phe F aromatic
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Proline Pro P hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Serine Ser S polar
hydrophilic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Threonine Thr T polar
hydrophilic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Tryptophan Trp W aromatic
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Tyrosine Tyr Y aromatic
polar
hydrophobic
Amino Acid
Amino Acid Valine Val V aliphatic
hydrophobic
neutral
Amino Acid


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