Amino acid
Amino acid: One of the20 building blocks from which proteins are assembled. Isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine are deemed ‘essential’ amino acids because the human body cannot make them and they must be obtained in the diet. Amino acids are sometimes taken orally in supplement form.
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- Amino acid symbols
Amino acid symbols: Symbols that stand for the amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Each amino acid has both a three-letter symbol and a single-letter symbol. For example, the three-letter and single-letter symbols for alanine are Ala and A. The three-letter symbols (such as Ala) are much more widely used than the single letter […]
- Amino acid, branched-chain
Amino acid, branched-chain: One of the amino acids that has a branch chain, namely, Leucine, isoleucine, and valine.
- Amino acid, essential
Amino acid, essential: An amino acid that cannot be made by humans and so is essential to the human diet. There are 9 essential amino acids: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
- Amino acid, nonessential
Amino acid, nonessential: An amino acid that can be made by humans and so is not essential to the human diet. There are 11 nonessential amino acids: alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine.
- Aminotransferase
Aminotransferase: An enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of an amino group from a donor molecule to a recipient molecule. The donor molecule is usually an amino acid and the recipient molecule is usually an alpha-2 keto acid. Two of the best-known enzymes in this class are serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic […]