What are the 20 amino acids?
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and play an important role in the life processes of human beings. Each amino acid consists of an alpha carbon atom attached to a hydrogen atom, an amino atom group, a carboxyl atom group and an “R” group. It is the configuration of this “R” group of atoms that determines the specific properties of an amino acid.Standard Amino AcidsThe 20 amino acids are alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine. These are referred to as the “standard amino acids” because they are necessary for life in human beings.Essential Amino AcidsOf the 20 standard amino acids, eight of them are dubbed “essential” to humans because they cannot be synthesized in the body and must be obtained from food. The essential amino acids are isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonin
