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The 21 proteinogenic α-amino acids found in eukaryotes, grouped according to their side chains' pK a values and charges carried at physiological pH (7.4) 2-, alpha-, or α-amino acids [21] have the generic formula H 2 NCHRCOOH in most cases, [b] where R is an organic substituent known as a "side chain". [22]
The understanding of proteins as polypeptides, or chains of amino acids, came through the work of Franz Hofmeister and Hermann Emil Fischer in 1902. [10] [11] The central role of proteins as enzymes in living organisms that catalyzed reactions was not fully appreciated until 1926, when James B. Sumner showed that the enzyme urease was in fact a ...
A biomolecule or biological molecule is loosely defined as a molecule produced by a living organism and essential to one or more typically biological processes. [1] Biomolecules include large macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, as well as small molecules such as vitamins and hormones.
Essential amino acid. An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized from scratch by the organism fast enough to supply its demand, and must therefore come from the diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life forms, the nine amino acids humans cannot synthesize are valine, isoleucine ...
If amino acids were randomly assigned to triplet codons, there would be 1.5 × 10 84 possible genetic codes. [81]: 163 This number is found by calculating the number of ways that 21 items (20 amino acids plus one stop) can be placed in 64 bins, wherein each item is used at least once. [82]
Ribbon diagram of a protease (TEV protease) complexed with its peptide substrate in black with catalytic residues in red.(. A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) [1] is an enzyme that catalyzes proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the formation of new protein products. [2]
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. [1] A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, and metabolism. Over the last decades of the 20th century, biochemistry has become successful at ...
The term nucleic acid is the overall name for DNA and RNA, members of a family of biopolymers, [13] and is a type of polynucleotide. Nucleic acids were named for their initial discovery within the nucleus, and for the presence of phosphate groups (related to phosphoric acid). [14] Although first discovered within the nucleus of eukaryotic cells ...