The one letter codes for each of the amino acids do have rhyme and reason!
First, some reasons:
The following amino acids all use the first initial as their code.
These amino acids are either very common, or they have a unique first letter. To make the following list, use the mnemonic:
Give A Violin Lesson to Isabelle SoThat Cindy can Matriculate and wear a Professional Hat.
- Glycine = G
- Alanine = A
- Valine = V
- Leucine = L
- Isoleucine = I
- Serine = S
- Threonine = T
- Cysteine = C
- Methionine = M
- Proline = P
- Histidine = H
Now for some rhymes:
- Arginine = R. R we having fun yet?
- Asparagine = N The kNights of Ne say "Ne".
- Glutamine is a cute amine = Q
- I say "glutamate"/a former vice president says "glutEmate" = E
- ditto with AsparDic acid = D
- Fenylalanine makes tasty italien sausage = F
- Theres are two rings in tryptophan, and there are two v's in W = W
- Tyrosine = Y, Y? Because we love biochemistry.
And for the remnant:
- Lysine= K Lysine couldn't have L because leucine already claimed it, so it took K, the next letter in the alphabet.
This returns you to the Biochemistry I page.
This page was written by Koni Stone, please send comments to koni@chem.csustan.edu