Name: What Makes up Life?
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 7 min 57 s
Description: Food makes us happy! But do you know food gives us something that literally 'makes' us? Can you guess what we are talking about? Learn through this video.

Question

Enumerate the role of amino acids in the body and also mention types of amino acids in detail with examples of each.

Accepted Answer

The role of amino acids in our body are:

The amino acid is the building block of proteins. It helps our body to grow, repair body tissue, etc.

Amino acids like tyrosine are involved in the formation of hormones like thyroxine.

Glycine is used in the formation of haem pigments.

GABA is a neurotransmitter produced from glutamic acid.

Amino acids are organic compounds containing an amino group and an acidic group on the alpha- carbon. Based on the number of amino and carboxyl group present, they are divided into the following types:

Acidic amino acids- It includes amino acids with one amino group and two carboxyl groups in a molecule, e.g. glutamic acid.

Basic amino acids- It includes amino acids with two amino groups and one carboxyl group in a molecule, e.g. lysine and histidine.

Neutral amino acids- These contain one amino group and one carboxyl group in a molecule, e.g. glycine.

Aromatic amino acids- These amino acids have aromatic rings in their side chains, e.g. tryptophan.

Amino acids are also classified as essential and non-essential amino acids on the basis of their utility. Essential amino acids like leucine are not synthesised in the body and need to be taken in our diet. Non-essential amino acids are those which our body can synthesise, e.g. proline.

Enumerate the role of amino acids in the body and also mention types of amino acids in detail with examples of each.

Important Questions on Biomolecules

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