Newsgroups: sci.bio Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!davison From: davison@menudo.uh.edu (Dan Davison) Subject: Re: Where do herbivores get their amino acids? In-Reply-To: karl@quercus.gsfc.nasa.gov's message of 14 May 91 14: 28:20 GMT Message-ID: <1991May16.030620.24749@menudo.uh.edu> Sender: usenet@menudo.uh.edu (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: menudo.uh.edu Organization: University of Houston References: <1991May11.213947.10968@hollie.rdg.dec.com> <1991May14.102820@quercus.gsfc.nasa.gov> Distribution: usa Date: Thu, 16 May 1991 03:06:20 GMT In article <1991May14.102820@quercus.gsfc.nasa.gov> karl@quercus.gsfc.nasa.gov (Karl Anderson) writes: Human metabolism can synthesize all but seven (the "essential" amino acids) of the twenty; they must get those seven from their food. [..] Nope, it's nine. The essential: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine. The non-essential: alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartate, cystenine, glutamate, glutamine, glycine, proline, serice, and tyrosine. How did you get 7? I don't see any interconversion pathways in humans listed...perhaps you were counting salvage pathways? source: Stryer, "Biochemistry", 3d. ed, pg. 578. I just finished teaching this a few weeks ago! dan -- dr. dan davison/dept. of biochemical and biophysical sciences/univ. of Houston/4800 Calhoun/Houston,TX 77054-5500/davison@uh.edu/DAVISON@UHOU Disclaimer: As always, I speak only for myself, and, usually, only to myself.