Aspartic acid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Chemical structure of L-aspartic acid |
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Aspartic acid |
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| Systematic (IUPAC) name | |
| (2S)-2-aminobutanedioic acid | |
| Identifiers | |
| CAS number | 56-84-8 |
| PubChem | 5960 |
| Chemical data | |
| Formula | C4H7NO4 |
| Mol. weight | 133.10 |
| Complete data | |
Aspartic acid (Asp, D), also known as aspartate, the name of its anion, is one of the 20 natural proteinogenic amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins.
As with each of the 20 natural amino acids, there are two abbreviations commonly used to designate aspartic acid: Asp (three letter) and D (one letter). The abbreviations signifying a choice of either aspartic acid or asparagine are Asx (three-letter) and B (one letter).[1]
As its name indicates, aspartic acid is the carboxylic acid analog of asparagine. It is non-essential in mammals, and might serve as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and is an excitotoxin. It is also a metabolite in the urea cycle, and participates in gluconeogenesis.
As a neurotransmitter, aspartic acid may provide resistance to fatigue and thus lead to endurance, although the evidence to support this idea is not strong.
[edit] References
- a IUPAC-IUBMB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature. Nomenclature and Symbolism for Amino Acids and Peptides. Recommendations on Organic & Biochemical Nomenclature, Symbols & Terminology etc.. Retrieved on September 28, 2005.
[edit] See also
- Aspartate transaminase
- Sodium poly(aspartate), a synthetic polyamide
[edit] External links
| Major Families of Biochemicals | ||
| Peptides | Amino acids | Nucleic acids | Carbohydrates | Lipids | Terpenes | Carotenoids | Tetrapyrroles | Enzyme cofactors | Steroids | Flavonoids | Alkaloids | Polyketides | Glycosides | ||
| Analogues of nucleic acids: | The 20 Common Amino Acids | Analogues of nucleic acids: |
| Alanine (dp) | Arginine (dp) | Asparagine (dp) | Aspartic acid (dp) | Cysteine (dp) | Glutamic acid (dp) | Glutamine (dp) | Glycine (dp) | Histidine (dp) | Isoleucine (dp) | Leucine (dp) | Lysine (dp) | Methionine (dp) | Phenylalanine (dp) | Proline (dp) | Serine (dp) | Threonine (dp) | Tryptophan (dp) | Tyrosine (dp) | Valine (dp) | ||
