Amino
Acids on Earth
by
Clinton Priestley
1.
The properties of Aspartic acid are:
-
Negatively charged carboxylate
group on sidechain, acidic
-
Polar
-
Nonessential amino acid
-
pKa: 4.5
2.
A derivative of Aspartic acid would be:
-
Asparagine
(Asn, N) is produced by either transamination from glutamine or by
adding ammonia directly to aspartic acid (aspartate).
3.
An interesting biological or pharmaceutical role of this Aspartic acid
derivative is:
-
Asaparagine
is a nonessential amino acid as well, but its function differs widely from
aspartic acid. Interestingly, asparagine plays a major role in acute
lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
By depleting the levels of circulating asparagine produced by the liver
researchers hope to treat this form of leukemia.
4.
On a biosphere on a distant planet outside our solar system, a different
but related amino acid is found:
-
On planet Trusteon, asparteon
is found in proteins. Asparteon contains an alcohol group and is
the zwitter ion of aspartic acid. Because the amino acid loses its
negatively charged caboxylate group its role in metabolism is exterminated,
thus species do not perform the same energy producing reactions such as
the Kreb's cycle.
