Organic acids or compounds that form short chemical chains made of peptides and polypeptides that in turn form proteins. Thus, they are the fundamental components of peptides and polypetides and proteins that go to make up all living cells. In various combinations, 20 basic amino acids make up all the proteins in the human body. There are non-essential amino acids that can be synthesised in the body and essential amino acids that cannot, and thus have to be supplied by diet. There are over 500 amino acids in nature, and some of them have even been found in the debris of meteorites.
See Aspartate acid (or aspartic acid), Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), Creatine, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), Gene, Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), Glutumate (or glutamate), Myoglobin, Methylation, Molecular biology, Peptides, Polymerization, Polypeptides, Proteins, Protein-folding problem, Protein tyrosine kinase, Pyrimidines, Purines, RNA (ribonucleic acid)