Why Amino Acids are your FRIENDS

Last night, just before bed, my darling friend Yelena sent me this link to help me memorize the 20 amino acids. I'm going go draw it out on my whiteboard and then post pictures of it as I go along. I figure if I do this a few times it'll help. I liked this video SO much that if I get into vet school, Yelena is getting a (kosher) Amino Acid cake and I will send the makers of this video a cake or pie of their choosing.

This process actually makes amino acids a lot less scary..

This covers Glycine (the easy EASY one) and Alanine (the easy one). Go GAGA for Glycine and Alanine!

They're both non-polar, BY THE WAY.

Three more non-polar side chain Amino Acids. We got Valine, Leucine, Isoleucine. 

VLI. Very little interest. JUST KIDDING LOTS OF INTEREST.

This next one is Methionine. This one, by default, is my BEST AMINO ACID FRIEND because MET is the first three letters of Lenny's (brilliant genius organic chemistry man) last name. So it has to be my BEST friend. The way the video explained it, you draw an M, turn the middle of the M into an S (which will end up having the methyl group attached) and then connect the S to the "backbone" with another carbon. Methionine. My best friend. As a side note, Methionine is ALSO non-polar. 3 more non-polar ones to go!

I like these next two a lot. For proline, the video said to draw a P and to remember it makes a 5 membered ring. I like those. So that's cool. ....For Phenylalanine, you draw an alanine. Then you attach a phenyl to that sucker. THAT'S IT. There's not way even I can fuck this up. Now for the last non-polar side chain...

Trypophan. The last non-polar side chain Amino Acid. This is the thing that we've always been told is the reason why you sleep for 3 days after thanksgiving (if you eat Turkey or some shit like that). Whatever. I'm going with W is Tryptophan's letter because WOW THAT'S A BIG BIRD ON THAT TABLE. I'm going to eat the whole thing and then kill myself. So in the video, you turn that W into two rings. That's cool. Then you take that bird, put it on a stick and stick it in the oven. That's how thanksgiving works, right?

These two are just me having fun. Like THAT ever happens. But seriously. This is where the POLAR side chains begin.  And we start off with S and T. And S comes before T in the alphabet. So it makes sense. Also, get some stereochemistry. Bitches love stereochemistry. Arrested Development fans, take note.

The next two polar side chains. Also, the last two polar side chains. So the four polar side chains actually spell out STAG. Like those deer. Male deer.  Except, Aspargine's letter is N. So it's more like STNG. Like, I got STNG by a bee and now I can't use vowels. So, both Aspargine and Glutamine have that carboxamide group stuck to them, but it's an extra carbon over in Glutamine. 

Now for the ACIDIC SIDE CHAINS of AMINO ACIDS.

There are four Amino Acids with Acidic side chains. Say that five times fast. I don't know what to do with these first two. I have no fun way of memorizing them. 

This is just me being really mean to myself with the last two, which are the last two Acidic Side Chains. Cysteine...meh I have nothing for that.

TYROSINE however. It's letter is Y. As in... Y ARENT YOU IN VET SCHOOL? Right, because you failed orgo the first time so now you have to fucking EAT IT. So, tyrosine is Phenylalanine with a hydroxyl group para to the rest of the chain on the benzene ring.

Now, the BASIC SIDE CHAINS

Whatever. These are the basic side chains.

Oh. And I almost forgot. The most IMPORTANT Amino Acid Friend of All - The AFICO ACID

This Amino (Afico) Acid is very important, and only a rare few have ever seen or synthesized it. It takes YEARS of training to understand it. Pay very close attention because I spelled stethoscope wrong the first time. Now I fixed it.