News tagged with amino acids
Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...
Mar 30, 2012 |
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Meteorites reveal another way to make life's components
(PhysOrg.com) -- Creating some of life's building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich – you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more ...
Mar 09, 2012 |
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Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy
For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...
Feb 12, 2012 |
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In nitrogenase - enzyme critical for life, X-ray emission cracks mystery atom
Like a shadowy character just hidden from view, a mystery atom in the middle of a complex enzyme called nitrogenase had long hindered scientists' ability to study the enzyme fully.
Nov 17, 2011 |
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Long-standing plant biochemistry mystery solved
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have discovered how an enzyme "knows" where to insert a double bond ...
Sep 19, 2011 |
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New method helps solve several baffling puzzles in protein molecular structure
The structures of many protein molecules remain unsolved even after experts apply an extensive array of approaches. An international collaboration has led to a new, high-performance method that rapidly determined ...
May 01, 2011 |
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Did clay mould life's origins?
(PhysOrg.com) -- An Oxford University scientist has taken our understanding of the origin of life a step further.
Apr 04, 2011 |
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Scientists unlock mystery of how the 22nd amino acid is produced
The most recently discovered amino acid, pyrrolysine, is produced by a series of just three chemical reactions with a single precursor – the amino acid lysine, according to new research.
Mar 30, 2011 |
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New model of protein folding helps researchers handle flood of genomic data
All living tissue is made from proteins, and all proteins are made from a combination of the same 20 chemical building blocks, called amino acids. The difference between the proteins that make up bone, blood, ...
Technology / Computer Sciences
Mar 22, 2011 |
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'Lost' samples from famous origin of life researcher could send search for first life in new direction
(PhysOrg.com) -- Stanley Miller gained fame with his 1953 experiment showing the synthesis of organic compounds thought to be important in setting the origin of life in motion. Five years later, he produced ...
Mar 21, 2011 |
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Hagfish found to eat through its skin
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study in Canada has shown that the primitive fish called the Hagfish, which has the habit of burrowing into dead or dying creatures on the sea bed, eats by absorption through its skin ...
Mar 03, 2011 |
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Fluorescent peptides help nerves glow in surgery
Accidental damage to thin or buried nerves during surgery can have severe consequences, from chronic pain to permanent paralysis. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine may have found a remedy: ...
Feb 06, 2011 |
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More asteroids could have made life's ingredients
(PhysOrg.com) -- A wider range of asteroids were capable of creating the kind of amino acids used by life on Earth, according to new NASA research.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 19, 2011 |
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Heat shock protein drives yeast evolution
Whitehead Institute researchers have determined that heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) can create heritable traits in brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) by affecting a large portion of the yeast genome. The finding has le ...
Dec 23, 2010 |
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Building blocks of life created in 'Impossible' place
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA-funded scientists have discovered amino acids, a fundamental building block of life, in a meteorite where none were expected.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 16, 2010 |
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Amino acid
In 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
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
