Consequently, they are fundamental components of our bodies and vital for physiological functions such as protein synthesis, tissue repair and nutrient absorption. Here we take a closer look at amino ...

Chemically, an amino acid is a molecule that has a carboxylic acid group and an amine group that are each attached to a carbon atom called the α carbon. Each of the 20 amino acids has a specific ...

that determines the unique properties of each amino acid. This image illustrates the general structure of an amino acid.The central carbon atom (C) is bonded to a hydrogen atom (H), an amino group ...

In fact, each gene in cellular DNA contains the code for a unique protein structure. Not only are these proteins assembled with different amino acid sequences, but they also are held together by ...

The sequence of amino acids in the chain determines how the chain will fold up to make the protein, so different proteins have different three-dimensional shapes. The three-dimensional shape of a ...