
Acids in Proteins?
The first thing you might be asking is, "What is an amino acid?" There are more than fifty, and each one of them is a little different. Amino acids are used in every cell of your body to build the proteins you need to survive. All organisms need some proteins, whether they are used in muscles or as simple structures in the cell membrane. Even though all organisms have differences, they still have one thing in common: the need for basic chemical building blocks.
Making Chains
Even though scientists have discovered over 50 amino acids, only 20 are used to make something called proteins in your body. Of those twenty, nine are defined as essential. The other eleven can be synthesized by an adult body. Thousands of combinations of those twenty are used to make all of the proteins in your body. Amino acids bond together to make long chains. Those long chains of amino acids are also called proteins.Essential Amino Acids: Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, and Valine.
Nonessential Amino Acids: Alanine, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, Glutamic Acid.
Conditional Amino Acids: Arginine (essential in children, not in adults), Cysteine, Glutamine, Glycine, Proline, Serine, and Tyrosine.
Something Called Side Groups

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Related Video...
Amino Acids in Asteorids?(Science@NASA Video)