Figure 2.1 - General amino acid structure With only very minor exceptions, every amino acid found in cells and in proteins is in the L configuration. (A minor exception to this structure is that of proline, in which the end of the R-group is attached to the α-amine.) With the exception of glycine, which has an R-group consisting of a hydrogen atom, all of the amino acids in proteins have four different groups attached to them and consequently can exist in two mirror image forms, L and D. The α carbon, carboxyl, and amino groups are common to all amino acids, so the R-group is the only unique feature in each amino acid. At the “center” of each amino acid is a carbon called the α carbon and attached to it are four groups - a hydrogen, an α- carboxyl group, an α-amine group, and an R-group, sometimes referred to as a side chain. that the twenty amino acids and the four bases, are, with minor reservations, the same throughout Nature." - Francis CrickĪll amino acids have the same basic structure, which is shown in Figure 2.1. "It is one of the more striking generalizations of biochemistry. Linked together in long chains called polypeptides, amino acids are the building blocks for the vast assortment of proteins found in all living cells. The entire textbook is available for free from the authors at Īll of the proteins on the face of the earth are made up of the same 20 amino acids.
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