Amino acid Click to bring up 3-D representation (separate window) |
3-letter and 1 letter abbreviation |
Description of R group |
alanine | ala A | non-polar |
arginine | arg R | basic, hydrophobic |
asparagine | asn N | amide version of below - polar |
aspartic acid | asp D | acidic - polar when ionised, otherwise can form hydrogen bonds |
cysteine | cys C | polar; contains -SH (thiol) group (can form disulphide bridges with other cysteine residues); also very reactive with metal ions |
glutamine | gln Q | amide version of below - polar |
glutamic acid | glu E | acidic- polar when ionised, otherwise can form hydrogen bonds |
glycine | gly G | simplest amino acid, allows full rotation of polypeptide chain: polar |
histidine | his H | basic |
isoleucine | ile I | non-polar |
leucine | leu L | non-polar |
lysine | lys K | basic |
methionine | met M | non-polar, contains S |
phenylalanine | phe F | non-polar, hydrophobic, aromatic ring |
proline | pro P | (not a true amino acid: imino group >NH, cyclical shape so less possibility of chain rotation) non-polar |
serine | ser S | polar |
threonine | thr T | polar |
tryptophan | trp W | non-polar, aromatic ring: quite reactive |
tyrosine | tyr Y | polar, aromatic ring |
valine | val V | non-polar |