• Alanine (symbol Ala or A), or α-alanine, is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. (wikipedia.org)
  • 721 Alanine is one of the twenty canonical α-amino acids used as building blocks (monomers) for the ribosome-mediated biosynthesis of proteins. (wikipedia.org)
  • In pathway V, the racemase alr forms D-lysine, which is oxidized to 6-amino-2-oxo-hexanoate, spontaneously decarboxylates to 1-piperideine-2-carboxylate, a reductase forms L-pipecolate, an oxidase forms 1-piperideine-6-carboxylate, and a dehydrogenase forms L-2-aminoadipate. (lbl.gov)
  • The methyl side-chain of alanine is non-reactive and is therefore hardly ever directly involved in protein function. (wikipedia.org)
  • In this model the selection of monomers (i.e. amino acids) for ribosomal protein synthesis is rather limited to those Alanine derivatives that are suitable for building α-helix or β-sheet secondary structural elements. (wikipedia.org)
  • Racemic alanine can be prepared by the condensation of acetaldehyde with ammonium chloride in the presence of sodium cyanide by the Strecker reaction, or by the ammonolysis of 2-bromopropanoic acid. (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine is broken down by oxidative deamination, the inverse reaction of the reductive amination reaction described above, catalyzed by the same enzymes. (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine is an aliphatic amino acid, because the side-chain connected to the α-carbon atom is a methyl group (-CH3). (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine is the simplest α-amino acid after glycine. (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine is a nonessential amino acid, meaning it can be manufactured by the human body, and does not need to be obtained through the diet. (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine can be synthesized from pyruvate and branched chain amino acids such as valine, leucine, and isoleucine. (wikipedia.org)
  • In the second step, the amino group of the newly-formed glutamate is transferred to pyruvate by an aminotransferase enzyme, regenerating the α-ketoglutarate, and converting the pyruvate to alanine. (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine is believed to be one of the earliest amino acids to be included in the genetic code standard repertoire. (wikipedia.org)
  • Dominant secondary structures in life as we know it are α-helices and β-sheets and most canonical amino acids can be regarded as chemical derivatives of Alanine. (wikipedia.org)
  • The fact that Ala mimics the secondary structure preferences of the majority of the encoded amino acids is practically exploited in alanine scanning mutagenesis. (wikipedia.org)
  • Alanine is produced by reductive amination of pyruvate, a two-step process. (wikipedia.org)
  • In addition, it is not possible to automatically make a distinction between alr and dadX (or dadB) genes, but if these two genes are found in a genome, note that the catabolic alanine racemase dadX (which only exists in several species) is part of the dad operon (i.e. must be close to dadA gene). (expasy.org)
  • Alanine is found in a wide variety of foods, but is particularly concentrated in meats. (wikipedia.org)
  • The methyl side-chain of alanine is non-reactive and is therefore hardly ever directly involved in protein function. (wikipedia.org)