Names of Amino Acids

[Dental Girl]

Hi:

Do I have to remember all 20 Amino acids names in Organic chemistry? How important they are??

Thanks.

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[clam chowder]

Hi:

Do I have to remember all 20 Amino acids names in Organic chemistry? How important they are??

Thanks.

uhm, ya, i doubt it. i THINK they'll give you the structure+names if necessary. but if you wanted to memorize 'em, wouldn't hurt. i've seen a couple PRACTICE questions that listed 5 AA in the answer choices and asked me to identify the basic AA. (vs. acidic and neutral)

Hmm, but do know that glycine is the only AA NOT chiral since it has 2 H's attached to it.

gl.

 

[organichemistry]

yeah, i'm pretty sure you don't have to know them all. but learn 'em for your biochemistry class (if not in undergrad, then probably in dental school). glycine, lysein, cysteine, alanine, phenylalanine.... ahhh. i love biochem. and i love the merrifield synthesis...

 

[mvs04]

you don't have to know them for the DAT, I don't remember any questions that even remotely resembled amino acids...

you'd have to know them for biochem eventually so memorizing them is not a bad idea.

 

[dexadental]

Unless it is an example demonstrating a mechanism or synthesis concept, knowing amino acid names is generally not taught in organic chem, and is therefore irrelevant. It is however a must for biochemistry. Wow its 2 in the morning...time for sleepy bye byes. Bottom line: you don't need to know squat about amino acids other than their general structure for organic chemistry...only the specific examples taught should be learned.

 

[Dental Girl]

Thank you to all.

 

[jk5177]

Yeah. You don't need them for DAT. Trust us on that.

 

[Typo]

Like they said above, no way Jose. The most you'll need to know for Bio on the DAT is that AUG is the start codon; the amino acid it codes for is irrelevant.

 

[DrCrutchfield]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but what everyone else is saying is the truth. The DAT doesn't care about the individual amino acids, their 1-letter symbols, or their structures. You DEFINITELY have to know this to pass any good biochem class. If you encounter any amino acid questions on the actual test, it will more than likely be about transcription and whether you can identify codons/anticodons, or if you can read the amino acid codon chart and identify the correct sequence from a list. It's pretty easily spelled out in the test.