Question

What are some examples of amino acids?

Answer 1

There are only 20 in total used by humans, although there are many other types that different organisms use.

Explanation:

Alanine - ala - A
Arginine - arg - R
Asparagine - asn - N
Aspartic acid - asp - D
Cysteine - cys - C (Only amino acid with a Sulfur atom)
Glutamic acid - glu - E (Amino acid that codes of normal RBCs)
Glycine - gly - G
Histidine - his - H
Isoleucine - ile - I
Leucine - leu - L
Lysine - lys - K
Methionine - met - M (First amino acid to be produced at ribosome)
Phenylalanine - phe - F
Proline - pro - P
Serine - ser - S
Threonine - thr - T
Tryptophan - trp - W
Tyrosine - tyr - Y
Valine - val - V (Amino acid that codes for sickle-cell anemia)

There are two types of amino acids: right-handed and left-handed amino acids. They are isomers of each other. In general, only left-handed amino acids are used.

Essential amino acids are those that the body cannot produce by itself, so it needs to consume those molecules from food to fulfill the requirement. The nine essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine

Credits: My Biology Textbook for AS and A Levels.