Name: Hormones
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 2 min 32 s
Description: Hormones are chemical compounds with high biological importance. They are secreted by different glands in the human body. Let's explore this combo of biology...

Question

Write the structure of alanine and aspartic acid.

Accepted Answer

Alanine is an aliphatic amino acid, because the side-chain connected to the α-carbon atom is a methyl group ${(-CH}_{3})$ ; alanine is the simplest α-amino acid after glycine. The methyl side-chain of alanine is non-reactive and is therefore hardly ever directly involved in protein function. Alanine is a nonessential amino acid, meaning it can be manufactured by the human body, and does not need to be obtained through the diet. Alanine is found in a wide variety of foods, but is particularly concentrated in meats.

Aspartic acid is an acidic polar Î±-amino acid with one additional methylene group bonded with one carboxyl group. Hence, aspartic acid is dicarboxylic amino acids. Because of the presence of second carboxyl group makes the molecule very hydrophilic. The pKa of the second carboxyl group is about $3.85$ and the overall molecule is negatively charged at neutral pH.

Write the structure of alanine and aspartic acid.

Important Questions on Biomolecules

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