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Name: Zachary
Status: Student
Age: 15
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
I have asked this before, but I did not see the response anywhere on the website or in my email. Are all living organisms made up of only 20 amino acids?


Replies:
There are 20 basic amino acids but there are some other unusual amino acids in a variety of organisms...these amino acids to my knowledge are not usually coded for in the genetic code.

pf

Animals and plants use only 20 amino acids. All but 8 are manufactured in the human body. The 8 are the essential amino acids needed in diet.

Steve Sample

On this planet, yes, there are only 20 naturally occurring amino acids. But one interesting bit of trivia -- the product you know as Nutrasweet is really a synthetic (chemically produced) compound that can technically be defined as an amino acid, though it is not a naturally occurring one, so it is not used in making any proteins.

Christine Ticknor, Ph.D.
S Case Western Reserve University


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