NSD 225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Essential Amino Acid, Phenylalanine, Peptide Bond
21 Feb 2017
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Compounds composed of c, h, o, and n. Composed of an amino acid group, an acid group, and a distinctive side chain. Carbs, fat and protein all contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. 20 different amino acids make up all proteins: analogous to letters in the alphabet. Non-essential: the body can make some amino acids from fragments of cho or fat to form the backbones and nitrogen from other sources to form the amine groups. Essential: others cannot be made at all (or cannot be made quickly enough) so we need to get these amino acids from our diet. Conditionally essential: sometimes certain nonessential amino acids can become essential (e. g. critical illness, when other amino acids are lacking) Phenylketonuria (pku) example of amino acid that becomes conditionally essential. Limited ability to metabolize the essential amino acid phenylalanine. Normally, phenylalanine converted to the nonessential amino acid tyrosine. People with pku lack enzyme to do this.
