Can you name the Twenty Amino Acids?

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Amino Acids Quiz

Rating:	Report a mistake
Published: September 12th, 2008
Category: Science
Plays: 73,929

Tags: Chemistry Quizzes, Amino Acids

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	Discoveria:	Sep 12th, 2008 at 14:32 GMT	9 points
	Glutamic acid and aspartic acid are also called glutamate and aspartate. The quiz should accept these as answers.

	yggdrasil:	Sep 13th, 2008 at 04:21 GMT	14 points
	It's too easy with the three-letter code underneath them. I also agree with Discoveria's comment.

	magicbadger:	Sep 16th, 2008 at 08:31 GMT	2 points
	No, Discoveria, glutamate and aspartate aren't amino acids - they're the salt anions of the amino acids. Clue's in the question - acid! Agree it's far too easy with the codes...

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	A_is_for_Addict:	Sep 20th, 2008 at 09:52 GMT	2 points
	The word 'acid' in the phrase 'amino acid' does not refer to the side chains (red bits), it refers to the green acid group. The word 'acid' in 'glutamic acid' and 'aspartic acid' refers to the side chain COOH group. The clue is not in the question since all of the amino acids have one acid group, D and E have two. At most physiological pHs the acid groups are deprotonated giving the anion, I think this makes it valid to accept both Glutamic acid/Glutamate and Aspartic acid/Aspartate. However the pictures do show them drawn as the acid version. I agree that the game would be more challenging without the one and three letter codes. It should allow you to guess these also.

	U.S.S. Defiant:	Nov 11th, 2008 at 15:33 GMT	11 points
	No, Alex, there are EIGHT essential amino acids -- there are only twenty total.

	U.S.S. Defiant:	Nov 12th, 2008 at 15:02 GMT	5 points
	The eight essential amino acids are phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine, leucine, and lysine.

	DC89:	Nov 15th, 2008 at 19:44 GMT	7 points
	I agree with Defiant about the essential amino acids but Alex is right to say that there are more than just 20 amino acids in nature. The ones listed in this game are the 20 found in (and needed by) mamalian cells but there are some others produced by prokaryotes like bacteria. (I am glad these weren't included in the game though as I don't know anything else about them other than that they exist.) The term essential amino acids refers to the amino acids humans need to take in in our diet. The other 12 in the game the body can synthesise for itself as long as it has an adequate supply of the 8 essentials.

	chambers:	Jan 17th, 2009 at 19:51 GMT	2 points
	tbh, the pictures dont help me. am i alone?

	fatfifer:	Jan 18th, 2009 at 07:24 GMT	0 points
	i just scraped through the periodic table,but i am way over my head with this one!

	A_is_for_Addict:	Feb 3rd, 2009 at 15:49 GMT	3 points
	Technically, there are infinite possible amino acids which can be synthesised chemically as well as those made by bacteria etc, but this quiz isn't about that. Perhaps it should be renamed "the twenty proteinogenic amino acids" to be more specific.

	zaphraud:	Feb 18th, 2009 at 00:17 GMT	2 points
	Even "the twenty proteinogenic amino acids" wouldn't be totally correct because of Selenocysteine. That said, I guess I gotta learn how to spell these better, I only got 16 of them LOL.

	A_is_for_Addict:	Feb 23rd, 2009 at 16:52 GMT	3 points
	Selenocysteine and Pyrrolysine are unusual. They're not directly coded for by the standard DNA code, they're replacements for certain stop codons. For that reason they aren't always included in the proteinogenic amino acids category, but you're right in saying they are indeed proteinogenic. Maybe "the 20 commonest proteinogenic amino acids" or is that too complicated now :P

	Chris King:	Mar 30th, 2009 at 20:22 GMT	-4 points
	How do these points work?

	pbrown:	Apr 6th, 2009 at 18:43 GMT	-4 points
	man, I hated biology

	LaStic:	Apr 19th, 2009 at 11:45 GMT	5 points
	This stirred up happy memories! I loved biochemistry

	TheArbiter:	Apr 22nd, 2009 at 14:38 GMT	6 points
	Please change it so the abbreviations are not there, this is like naming the elements of the periodic table from their symbols!!!

	Barbaloot:	Jun 16th, 2009 at 01:52 GMT	13 points
	8-6-7-5-threonine

	SomeSp0rcler:	Oct 7th, 2009 at 07:33 GMT	2 points
	The abbreviations below each amino acid have ruined this quiz. For example, when I see "Tyr/Y" it's too easy to think "Tyrosine".

	SomeSp0rcler:	Oct 9th, 2009 at 04:07 GMT	3 points
	I think Alex was referring to the fact that our polypeptides are built from only 20 amino acids. There are many other amino acids, such as ornithine and taurine. His vocabulary was applied incorrectly though. I guess he thought the 20 amino acids were "essential" because they are needed to build our proteins, not because our body can't make them from other amino acids.

	rossman:	Nov 26th, 2009 at 15:21 GMT	3 points
	I liked it a lot-very good!

	jcrow09:	Jan 22nd, 2010 at 23:34 GMT	1 point
	The symbols made it too easy, although I still missed Histidine.

	Dixiewrestler145:	Oct 26th, 2010 at 00:06 GMT	3 points
	any chance you could make this without the 3 and 1 letter codes?