What part of an amino acid changes to create different amino acids?

1 Answer
Jan 29, 2017

Each amino acid has a unique R group as explained below.

Explanation:

All amino acids contain a central carbon atom which is bonded to an amino group, a hydrogen atom, a carboxylic acid group, and an R group. The R group varies with each amino acid.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/b/mbt102/bisci4online/chemistry/chemistry8.htm

The simplest R group is a hydrogen atom, which forms the amino acid glycine.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa/proteins/proteinsrev1.shtml

The following is a list of the 20 amino acids that occur in nature. Note that each one has a different R group.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/b/mbt102/bisci4online/chemistry/chemistry8.htm