🧪 General Principles🟢 BasicAmino Acid Metabolism

Glycine and Its Specialized Products

The simplest amino acid, glycine, which is a building block for an unusually wide range of important molecules in the body.

Key points

Glycine is the smallest and simplest amino acid, and besides building proteins it is a raw material for many specialized products.
It provides atoms for the haem of haemoglobin and for the purine bases of DNA and RNA.
Glycine combines with arginine to begin making creatine, which stores energy in muscle as creatine phosphate.
It is part of the antioxidant glutathione and is joined to bile acids to help them dissolve fat in the gut.
Glycine is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the spinal cord, where it dampens nerve signals.
It is a major part of collagen, where every third amino acid is glycine because its small size lets the collagen chains coil tightly together.

Small amino acid, many products: glycine builds haem, purines, creatine, glutathione, bile salts and collagen, and calms the spinal cord.

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🧪 General Principles🟢 BasicAmino Acid Metabolism

The simplest amino acid, glycine, which is a building block for an unusually wide range of important molecules in the body.

Glycine is the smallest and simplest amino acid, and besides building proteins it is a raw material for many specialized products.
It provides atoms for the haem of haemoglobin and for the purine bases of DNA and RNA.
Glycine combines with arginine to begin making creatine, which stores energy in muscle as creatine phosphate.
It is part of the antioxidant glutathione and is joined to bile acids to help them dissolve fat in the gut.
Glycine is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the spinal cord, where it dampens nerve signals.
It is a major part of collagen, where every third amino acid is glycine because its small size lets the collagen chains coil tightly together.

Small amino acid, many products: glycine builds haem, purines, creatine, glutathione, bile salts and collagen, and calms the spinal cord.