A GUIDE TO THE TWENTY COMMON AMINO ACIDS

AMINO ACIDS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF PROTEINS IN LIVING ORGANISMS. THERE ARE OVER 500 AMINO ACIDS FOUND IN NATURE - HOWEVER, THE HUMAN GENETIC CODE
ONLY DIRECTLY ENCODES 20. ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS MUST BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIET, WHILST NON-ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS CAN BE SYNTHESISED IN THE BODY.

Chart Key: ALIPHATIC AROMATIC ACIDIC BASIC HYDROXYLIC SULFUR-CONTAINING AMIDIC NON-ESSENTIAL ESSENTIAL

O O
Chemical O O O O

Structure OH H2N OH OH OH OH
OH
single letter NH2 NH2 NH NH2
code
NH2

NAME A Alanine A Glycine G ISOLEUCINE I LEUCINE L PROLINE P VALINE V

three letter code Ala Gly Ile Leu Pro Val
DNA codons GCT, GCC, GCA, GCG GGT, GGC, GGA, GGG ATT, ATC, ATA CTT, CTC, CTA, CTG, TTA, TTG CCT, CCC, CCA, CCG GTT, GTC, GTA, GTG

H
O N
O O O O O
NH2 O
OH O N
OH NH2 OH O OH H2N N OH OH
NH2 H
NH2 NH2
HO
O NH2 NH2 HN NH2
OH
O

PHENYLALANINE F TRYPTOPHAN W TYROSINE Y ASPARTIC ACID D GLUTAMIC ACID E ARGININE R HISTIDINE H

Phe Trp Tyr Asp Glu Arg His
TTT, TTC TGG TAT, TAC GAT, GAC GAA, GAG CGT, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, AGG CAT, CAC

O OH O O O O
O O O
H3N S H2N
OH HO OH OH HS OH OH OH H2N OH
NH2 O NH2 NH2
NH2 NH2 NH2
NH2

LYSINE K SERINE S THREONINE T CYSTEINE C METHIONINE M ASPARAGINE N GLUTAMINE Q

Lys Ser Thr Cys Met Asn Gln
AAA, AAG TCT, TCC, TCA, TCG, AGT, AGC ACT, ACC, ACA, ACG TGT, TGC ATG AAT, AAC CAA, CAG

Note: This chart only shows those amino acids for which the human genetic code directly codes for. Selenocysteine is often referred to as the 21st amino acid, but is encoded in a special manner.
In some cases, distinguishing between asparagine/aspartic acid and glutamine/glutamic acid is difficult. In these cases, the codes asx (B) and glx (Z) are respectively used.

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