Glycine

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Glycine is a nonpolar amino acid. It is the simplest of the 20 natural amino acids; its side chain is a hydrogen atom.

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Because there is a second hydrogen atom at the α carbon, glycine is not optically active.

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Since glycine has such a small side chain, it can fit into many places where no other amino acid can.

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For example, only glycine can be the internal amino acid of a collagen helix.

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Glycine is very evolutionarily stable at certain positions of some proteins (for example, in cytochrome c, myoglobin, and haemoglobin), because mutations that change it to an amino acid with a larger side chain could break the protein's structure.

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Most proteins contain only small quantities of glycine. A notable exception is collagen, which is about one-third glycine.

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Nonpolar: In chemistry, a nonpolar compound is one that does not have concentrations of positive or negative electric charge. Nonpolar compounds, such as oil, are not soluble in water because of its (the water's) polarity. Some non-polar compounds have polar bonds, which is cancelled out by the way the atoms...

Amino acid: In chemistry, an amino acid is any molecule that contains both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups....

Side chain: Side chain in the context of organic chemistry and biochemistry has different meanings:...

Glycine related Images and Photos (experimental)

Soybean in Flower Glycine Max