Molecular Language of Proteins and Amino Acid Nutrition

Vocabulary flashcards defining core terms, specific proteins, amino acids, and nutritional categories based on the lecture on the molecular language of proteins.

Amino Acids

Individual building block molecules used by all organisms to construct proteins, consisting of a standard set of $20$ in nature.

Genome

The collection of genes carried in each cell that encodes on the order of $20,000$ to $25,000$ different proteins.

Protein Sequence

The specific order in which amino acids appear within a protein string, which dictates its unique biological function.

Essential Amino Acids

A group of $9$ amino acids that cannot be produced by the human body and must be obtained directly from the diet.

Nonessential Amino Acids

A group of $11$ dispensable amino acids that the body can synthesize, usually by modifying other nutrients or converting one amino acid into another.

Actin

A relatively small muscle protein made up of $375$ amino acids that works with myosin as sliding filaments for muscle movement and contains higher amounts of leucine, isoleucine, and glycine.

Myosin

A large muscle protein made of approximately nineteen thirty five ($1935$) amino acids that is rich in glutamic acid (E), lysine, and leucine, but lower in tryptophan and cysteine.

Heat Map

A color-coded visual representation where high frequencies of amino acids are painted in red tones, lower frequencies in blue, and middle frequencies in white.

MBP

A protein abundant and functionally important in the brain that requires relatively high levels of Glycine G, Ar, and Serine S.

Collagen

One of the most abundant proteins in the body, critical in skin and bones, which requires high levels of Glycine and Proline.

Albumin

A protein highly abundant in the blood that contains relatively high levels of cysteine.

Whey Protein

A commercial protein supplement typically composed of $50\text{--}60BA$ percent beta lactoglobulin, $15\text{--}25BA$ percent acta lactalbumin, and smaller proportions of other proteins.

Phasoline

An amino acid-rich protein component found in beans and other legumes.

BCAAs

Stands for branched chain amino acids, which consist of leucine, isoleucine, and valine; all three are essential amino acids that play key roles in muscle metabolism and signaling.

EAAs

An abbreviation for essential amino acids.