1.1 Amino Acids Found in Proteins Flashcards

Biochem Chapter 1 represents 20% of all biochem questions on the MCAT. Know this stuff!!

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1
Q

What are the 7 nonpolar, nonaromatic Amino Acids?

A
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2
Q

What are the 3 aromatic Amino Acids?

A
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3
Q

What are the 5 Amino Acids with polar side chains?

A
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4
Q

What are the 2 Amino Acids with negatively charged (acidic) chains?

A
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5
Q

What are the 3 Amino Acids with positively charged (basic) side chains?

A
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6
Q

What are the 3-letter abreviations and 1-letter abbreviations for all 20 amino acids?

A
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7
Q

The alpha carbon, is the carbon adjacent to?

A

The carboxyl carbon

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8
Q

The 20 alpha-amino acids encoded by the human genetic code are knows as?

A

Proteinogentic amino acids

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9
Q
A
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10
Q

All chiral amino acids in eukaryotes are L-amino acids, so the amino group is drawn on the left in a Fischer projection. In the Cahn-Ingold-Prelog system, this translates to an (S) absolute confirguration for almost all chirla amino acids. The exception is what, and why?

A

Cysteine

Which while still being an L-amino acid has an (R) absolute confiruation becase the -CH2SH group has priority over the -COOH group

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11
Q
A
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12
Q

Which amino acids have amide side chains and why is this important?

A

Asparagine and Glutamine

Unlike the amino group common to all amino acids, the amide nitrogens do NOT gain or lose protons with changes in pH; they do NOT become charged.

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13
Q

Cystein has an -SH group in its side change, which is know as a?

What about this group makes it prone to oxidation?

A

Thiol

Because sulfur is larger and less electronegative than oxygen, the S-H bond is weaker than the O-H bond.

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14
Q

Unlike asparagine and glutamine, aspartate and glutamate have corboxylate (-COO-) groups in their side chains, rather than?

A

amides

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15
Q

Histidine has an aromatic ring with two nitrogen atoms. Thsi ring is called an?

Histidine is one of the positively charged side chains but given its ring stucture, how can histidine acquire a positive charge?

A

imidazole

The pKa of it’s side chain is about 6, which is relatively close to physiologic pH (7.4) so, at physiologic pH, one nitrogen atom is protonated and teh other isn’t, Under more acidic conditions, the second nitrogen atom can become protonated, giving the side change a positive charge.

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16
Q

The surface of a protein tends to be rich in amino acids with _______ side chains.

Strongly hydrophobic amino acids tend to be found in the __________ of proteins.

A

charged

interior

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17
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Glycine

Gly

G

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18
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Glycine

Gly

G

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19
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Alanine

Ala

A

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20
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Alanine

Ala

A

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21
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Valine

Val

V

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22
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Valine

Val

V

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23
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Leucine

Leu

L

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24
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Leucine

Leu

L

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25
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Isoleucine

Ile

I

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26
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Isoleucine

Ile

I

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27
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Methionine

Met

M

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28
Q

Name this amino acid. What is it’s 3-letter abbreviation and it’s 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Phenylalanine

Phe

F

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29
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Methionine

Met

M

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30
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Proline

Pro

P

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31
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Proline

Pro

P

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32
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Tryptophan

Trp

W

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33
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Tryptophan

Trp

W

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34
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Phenylalanine

Phe

F

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35
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Tyrosine

Tyr

Y

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36
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Tyrosine

Tyr

Y

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37
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Serine

Ser

S

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38
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Serine

Ser

S

39
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Threonine

Thr

T

40
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Threonine

Thr

T

41
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Asparagine

Asn

N

42
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Asparagine

Asn

N

43
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Glutamine

Gln

Q

44
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Glutamine

Gln

Q

45
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Cysteine

Cys

C

46
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Cysteine

Cys

C

47
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Aspartic Acid

Asp

D

48
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Aspartic Acid

Asp

D

49
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Glutamic Acid

Glu

E

50
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Glutamic Acid

Glu

E

51
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Arginine

Arg

R

52
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Arginine

Arg

R

53
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Lysine

Lys

K

54
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Lysine

Lys

K

55
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Histidine

His

H

56
Q

Name this amino acid. What is its 3-letter abbreviation and its 1-letter abbreviation?

A

Histidine

His

H

57
Q

What is the pKa of all amino acid’s carboxyl terminus?

A

2.3

58
Q

What is the pKa of all amino acid’s amino terminus?

A

9.6

59
Q

The smaller the value of pKa, the _________ the acid.

A

Stronger

60
Q

pKa =

A

-log10 Ka

61
Q

Why is pKa used?

A

The reason pKa is used is because it describes acid dissociation using small decimal numbers.

The same type of information may be obtained from Ka values, but they are typically extremely small numbers given in scientific notation that are hard for most people to understand.

62
Q

What is the approximate pKa of the following amino acids from lowest pKa to highest pKa, and why do some amino acids not have pKa values for the side chains?

Aspartic acid

Glutamic acid

Histidine

Cysteine

Tyrosine

Lysine

Arginine

A

Aspartic acid 3.7

Glutamic acid 4.2

Histidine 6

Cysteine 8

Tyrosine 10

Lysine 10.5

Arginine 12

The remaining amino acids do NOT have ionizable side chains therefore cannot become acid or basic.

63
Q

Most of the amino acids have an isoelectric point (pI) of approximately _____ except for

Aspartic acid

Glutamic acid

Histidine

Lysine

Arginine

What are their approximate pI values from lowest to highest?

A

5 to 6

Aspartic acid 2.8

Glutamic acid 3.2

Histidine 7.5

Lysine 10

Arginine 10.7

64
Q

What is the structure of glycine?

A
65
Q

What is the structure of alanine?

A
66
Q

What is the structure of valine?

A
67
Q

What is the structure of leucine?

A
68
Q

What is the structure of isoleucine?

A
69
Q

What is the structure of methionine?

A
70
Q

What is the structure of proline?

A
71
Q

What is the structure of tryptophan?

A
72
Q

What is the structure of phenylalanine?

A
73
Q

What is the structure of tyrosine?

A
74
Q

What is the structure of serine?

A
75
Q

What is the structure of threonine?

A
76
Q

What is the structure of asparagine?

A
77
Q

What is the structure of glutamine?

A
78
Q

What is the structure of cysteine?

A
79
Q

What is the structure of aspartic acid?

A
80
Q

What is the structure of glutamic acid?

A
81
Q

What is the structure of arginine?

A
82
Q

What is the structure of lysine?

A
83
Q

What is the structure of histidine?

A
84
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

ARND

A

Alanine

Arginine

Asparagine

Aspartic Acid

85
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

CEQGH

A

Cysteine

Glutamic acid

Glutamine

Glycine

Histidine

86
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

ILKMF

A

Isoleucine

Leucine

Lysine

Methionine

Phenylalanine

87
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

PSTWYV

A

Proline

Serine

Threonine

Tryptophan

Tyrosin

Valine

88
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

ala-arg-asn-asp-cys

A

Alanine

Arginine

Asparagine

Aspartic Acid

Cysteine

89
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

glu-gln-gly-his-ile

A

Glutamic acid

Glutamine

Glycine

Histadine

Isoleucine

90
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

leu-lys-met-phe-pro

A

Leucine

Lysine

Methionine

Phenylalanine

Proline

91
Q

What are the amino acids given the following sequence?

ser-thr-trp-tyr-val

A

Serine

Threonine

Tryptophan

Tyrosine

Valine

92
Q

What are the 3-letter and 1-letter abbreviations for the following amino acids.

Asparagine

Aspartic acid

A

Asparagine - Ans - N

Aspartic acid - Asp - D

93
Q

What are the 3-letter and 1-letter abbreviations for the following amino acids.

Glutamic acid

Glutamine

A

Glutamic acid - Glu - E

Glutamine - Gln - Q