Amino acid metabolism

Key points about amino acid metabolism: Transamination is the transfer of amino groups from one molecule to another Various transaminases can remove amino groups from one amino acid (to produce an α-keto acid) and pass them to an α-keto acid to make a new amino acid Often, amino groups are passed onto α-ketoglutarate to make glutamate Amino groups to be disposed of are transported through the bloodstream to the liver as (typically) glutamine or alanine In the liver, the urea cycle takes amino groups from amino acids and converts them into urea, which the kidneys can excrete in the urine This avoids the buildup of ammonia and allows the carbon skeletons of amino acids to be used to do cool things like make glucose, lipids, hormones, and cofactors When dealing with amino acid catabolism, there are 3-4 main “steps”: 1) Removal of the amino group (typically through transamination, but can also be through oxidative deamination) 2) Conversion of carbon skeleton into acetyl-CoA and/or a TCA cycle intermediate(s) 3) In some cases: Partial cycle of TCA to get to oxaloacetate 4) Complete cycle(s) or the TCA (1 cycle per pair of C) more about the urea cycle:    • Urea cycle overview   more on amino acids: https://bit.ly/aminoacidsposts more on all sorts of metabolic stuff: https://bit.ly/bbmetabolism &    • metabolism         more about all sorts of things: #365DaysOfScience All (with topics listed) 👉 http://bit.ly/2OllAB0 or search blog: http://thebumblingbiochemist.com