Amino Acid Symbol
An Amino Acid Symbol is a symbol for an amino acid.
References
Symbol 3-letter Meaning Codons Depiction
A Ala Alanine GCT,GCC,GCA,GCG !GCX
B Asp,Asn Aspartic,
Asparagine GAT,GAC,AAT,AAC !RAY
Cys Cysteine TGT,TGC !TGY
D Asp Aspartic GAT,GAC !GAY
E Glu Glutamic GAA,GAG !GAR
F Phe Phenylalanine TTT,TTC !TTY
G Gly Glycine GGT,GGC,GGA,GGG !GGX
H His Histidine CAT,CAC !CAY
I Ile Isoleucine ATT,ATC,ATA !ATH
K Lys Lysine AAA,AAG !AAR
L Leu Leucine TTG,TTA,CTT,CTC,CTA,CTG !TTR,CTX,YTR;YTX
M Met Methionine ATG !ATG
Asn Asparagine AAT,AAC !AAY
P Pro Proline CCT,CCC,CCA,CCG !CCX
Q Gln Glutamine CAA,CAG !CAR
R Arg Arginine CGT,CGC,CGA,CGG,AGA,AGG !CGX,AGR,MGR;MGX
S Ser Serine TCT,TCC,TCA,TCG,AGT,AGC !TCX,AGY;WSX
Thr Threonine ACT,ACC,ACA,ACG !ACX
V Val Valine GTT,GTC,GTA,GTG !GTX
W Trp Tryptophan TGG !TGG
X Xxx Unknown !XXX
Y Tyr Tyrosine TAT, TAC !TAY
Z Glu,Gln Glutamic,
Glutamine GAA,GAG,CAA,CAG !SAR
2017
- (Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteinogenic_amino_acid#Gene_expression_and_biochemistry Retrieved:2017-5-21.
| Amino acid | Short | Abbrev. | Codon(s) | Occurrence
in Archaean proteins (%)& |
Occurrence
in Bacteria proteins (%)& |
Occurrence
in Eukaryote proteins (%)& |
Occurrence in human proteins (%)& |
Essential‡ in humans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alanine | A | Ala | GCU, GCC, GCA, GCG | 8.2 | 10.06 | 7.63 | 7.01 | No |
| Cysteine | C | Cys | UGU, UGC | 0.98 | 0.94 | 1.76 | 2.3 | Conditionally |
| Aspartic acid | D | Asp | GAU, GAC | 6.21 | 5.59 | 5.4 | 4.73 | No |
| Glutamic acid | E | Glu | GAA, GAG | 7.69 | 6.15 | 6.42 | 7.09 | Conditionally |
| Phenylalanine | F | Phe | UUU, UUC | 3.86 | 3.89 | 3.87 | 3.65 | Yes |
| Glycine | G | Gly | GGU, GGC, GGA, GGG | 7.58 | 7.76 | 6.33 | 6.58 | Conditionally |
| Histidine | H | His | CAU, CAC | 1.77 | 2.06 | 2.44 | 2.63 | Yes |
| Isoleucine | I | Ile | AUU, AUC, AUA | 7.03 | 5.89 | 5.1 | 4.33 | Yes |
| Lysine | K | Lys | AAA, AAG | 5.27 | 4.68 | 5.64 | 5.72 | Yes |
| Leucine | L | Leu | UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, CUG | 9.31 | 10.09 | 9.29 | 9.97 | Yes |
| Methionine | M | Met | AUG | 2.35 | 2.38 | 2.25 | 2.13 | Yes |
| Asparagine | N | Asn | AAU, AAC | 3.68 | 3.58 | 4.28 | 3.58 | No |
| Pyrrolysine | O | Pyl | UAG* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
| Proline | P | Pro | CCU, CCC, CCA, CCG | 4.26 | 4.61 | 5.41 | 6.31 | No |
| Glutamine | Q | Gln | CAA, CAG | 2.38 | 3.58 | 4.21 | 4.77 | No |
| Arginine | R | Arg | CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, AGG | 5.51 | 5.88 | 5.71 | 5.64 | Conditionally |
| Serine | S | Ser | UCU, UCC, UCA, UCG, AGU, AGC | 6.17 | 5.85 | 8.34 | 8.33 | No |
| Threonine | T | Thr | ACU, ACC, ACA, ACG | 5.44 | 5.52 | 5.56 | 5.36 | Yes |
| Selenocysteine | U | Sec | UGA** | 0 | 0 | 0 | >0 | No |
| Valine | V | Val | GUU, GUC, GUA, GUG | 7.8 | 7.27 | 6.2 | 5.96 | Yes |
| Tryptophan | W | Trp | UGG | 1.03 | 1.27 | 1.24 | 1.22 | Yes |
| Tyrosine | Y | Tyr | UAU, UAC | 3.35 | 2.94 | 2.87 | 2.66 | Conditionally |
| Stop codon† | - | Term | UAA, UAG, UGA†† | - | - |
- * UAG is normally the amber stop codon, but encodes pyrrolysine if a PYLIS element is present.
** UGA is normally the opal (or umber) stop codon, but encodes selenocysteine if a SECIS element is present.
† The stop codon is not an amino acid, but is included for completeness.
†† UAG and UGA do not always act as stop codons (see above).
‡ An essential amino acid cannot be synthesized in humans and must, therefore, be supplied in the diet. Conditionally essential amino acids are not normally required in the diet, but must be supplied exogenously to specific populations that do not synthesize it in adequate amounts.
& Occurrence of amino acids is based on 135 Archaea, 3775 Bacteria, 614 Eukaryota proteomes and human proteome (21 006 proteins) respectively.
- * UAG is normally the amber stop codon, but encodes pyrrolysine if a PYLIS element is present.