12 Facts About Alanine

1.

Alanine, or a-alanine, is an a-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins.

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2.

Alanine was first synthesized in 1850 when Adolph Strecker combined acetaldehyde and ammonia with hydrogen cyanide.

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3.

Alanine is an aliphatic amino acid, because the side-chain connected to the a-carbon atom is a methyl group ; alanine is the simplest a-amino acid after glycine.

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4.

Alanine is a nonessential amino acid, meaning it can be manufactured by the human body, and does not need to be obtained through the diet.

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5.

Alanine is found in a wide variety of foods, but is particularly concentrated in meats.

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6.

Alanine can be synthesized from pyruvate and branched chain amino acids such as valine, leucine, and isoleucine.

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7.

Alanine is produced by reductive amination of pyruvate, a two-step process.

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8.

L-Alanine is produced industrially by decarboxylation of L-aspartate by the action of aspartate 4-decarboxylase.

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9.

Alanine is broken down by oxidative deamination, the inverse reaction of the reductive amination reaction described above, catalyzed by the same enzymes.

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10.

Alanine is one of the twenty canonical a-amino acids used as building blocks for the ribosome-mediated biosynthesis of proteins.

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11.

Alanine is believed to be one of the earliest amino acids to be included in the genetic code standard repertoire.

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12.

Alanine is useful in loss of function experiments with respect to phosphorylation.

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