symbol Ala or A.

The most "vanilla" of all of the 20 naturally-occurring amino acids. Considered to be a hydrophobic residue, and has the highest helical propensity of any of the natural amino acids, on the basis of "host-guest" of synthetic peptides.

Alanine is a simple but very often-used amino acid. It is used by your body for the metabolism of tryptophan and the vitamin pyridoxine. Nine percent of the composition of most proteins is alanine.

structural formula of alanine:

   H             O
    \           //        alanine
H -- C -- C -- C          (C3H7NO2)
    /    / \    \
   H    N   H    O -- H
       / \
      H   H

Al"a*nine (#), n. [Aldehyde + the ending -ine. The -n- is a euphonic insertion.] Chem.

A white crystalline base, C3H7NO2, derived from aldehyde ammonia.

 

© Webster 1913.