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Biochemistry

Learn the toughest concepts covered in Biochemistry with step-by-step video tutorials and practice problems by world-class tutors

3. Amino Acids

Essential Amino Acids

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concept

Memorizing Essential Amino Acids

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in this video, we're going to distinguish between essential and non essential amino acids. So it turns out that biochemist used the word essential in a slightly different way than our everyday use of the word essential. And so normally in our everyday use, essential means absolutely required. But if you apply that to amino acids, then all of the amino acids air really essential because they're all absolutely required. If you're missing one of the amino acids, then it's likely that you're missing a component toe one of your proteins, and that won't be a good thing. And so all of the amino acids are essential and needed for survival. So that's not what biochemist mean by essential when biochemists say essential amino acids. What they actually mean is that these amino acids cannot be generated by the organism itself. It cannot be synthesized by the organism itself. And so the Onley way that the organism is able to obtain these amino acids is through consumption of the amino acids in their diet. And that's all essential means is that essential amino acids are amino acids that must be consumed in the diet because the organism cannot generate those amino acids. So what that means is that non essential is gonna actually be the complete opposite. So non essential amino acids they actually can be generated by the organism that can be synthesized. And so what that means is that it's not necessary. It's not needed for the organism to directly consume these amino acids because they can consume other things and then synthesize those non essential amino acids. And so that's That's the difference between essential non essential. So, in our example below, what we've got is a list of all the essential and non essential amino acids for humans and for mammals. And so notice that they're actually nine essential amino acids and all the other ones fall under non essential and so also noticed that there's a little star next to non essential. And that's just because, ah, little star next Argentine, which is listed under non essential, And that's because Argentine is kind of on the fence here. Sometimes it's listed is essential. Other times it's listed as non essential, and really, it's because humans and mammals they can synthesize Argentine. But ah, lot of the Argentine is broken down into your area, and it's not available to be put into proteins. And so, ah, lot of times Argentine needs to be consumed by animals, by mammals and by humans. And so that's why it's kind of on the fence here. It's good to note that just in case you're professor might list it as essential. Now, over here, what we got on both sides of the chart are 22 different No Monix to help you memorize those essential amino acids because it's likely that your professor is gonna want you to know which amino acids are essential and must be consumed in our diet. And so the one on the left is one pneumonic that I found online that seems to help a lot of different people. So I wanted to make that available and known to you guys, and the one on the right is actually one that I created and came up with myself. So for the one that's on the left, the demonic is try this V I. P mall, and so the try is referring to the trip to fan, though this the tea is referring to the 39 hisses to the histamine, the V I P. V. is veiling Isaie solution. And then the P here is actually for female Allen in not for pro lean. So if you're using this demonic, make sure that you really take that into account that the P is for final Alan in Not for paroling, because prowling is not essential. And then the mall part. So m is for Matheny. The A is actually ignored because it doesn't mean Alan Alan is not essential. And then the two al Zahr just referring to the two amino acids with Al's in them. So if you like this pneumonic over here because you like going to malls and you like hanging out at malls or whatever, you like shopping and you like this pneumonic, go ahead and use out. Now the one over here on the right is one that I came up with myself and it's just a dream. As you could see in this bubble is just a dream. So it's not really riel. And so basically, the idea is that, uh, in my dream, I let so I so losing three mean I let, uh MLK So Martin Luther King. So this is my thinning loosen lysine. Uh, trip So trip to fan. I let him trip his favorite video character, his FV, his favorite video character. I let Martin Luther King trip his favorite video character in my dream, and so you can see up here in this image that we've got Martin Luther King and he's tripping his favorite video character, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown's asking, was that essential? And Martin Luther King? In my dream, he was like, Yes, that was essential. And so that's why, uh, I let Martin Luther King trip. His favorite video character is the pneumonic for memorizing all of the essential amino acids. And so we all know, by the way, that Martin Luther King is a super peaceful person. He would never trip anybody, and that's why this is all in a dream. So if you like this pneumonic over here, go ahead and use that one. And what we'll do is we're gonna apply this in our practice problems, so I'll see you guys in those videos
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Problem

Which of the following amino acids is essential for humans?

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Problem

Which of the following is a non-essential amino acid for humans?

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Problem

Deficiency in which of the following amino acids would be most detrimental?

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Problem

Circle all the essential amino acids in the chart below.

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