Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which play a crucial role in various biological functions, including structural components of cells, enzymes that catalyze biochemical reactions, hormones, and antibodies, among others.

Question

In total, there are 20 standard amino acids that are used by the human body to synthesize proteins. These amino acids can be categorized into two groups:

1. **Essential Amino Acids:** There are 9 essential amino acids that the body cannot synthesize and must be obtained through diet. These are:
- Histidine
- Isoleucine
- Leucine
- Lysine
- Methionine
- Phenylalanine
- Threonine
- Tryptophan
- Valine

2. **Non-Essential Amino Acids:** There are 11 amino acids that the body can synthesize on its own, and thus are not required to be obtained from dietary sources. These are:
- Alanine
- Arginine
- Asparagine
- Aspartic acid
- Cysteine
- Glutamic acid
- Glutamine
- Glycine
- Proline
- Serine
- Tyrosine

In addition to these standard amino acids, there are also others known as "modified amino acids" or "non-standard amino acids" that may play roles in specific proteins or functional processes. However, the basic building blocks of proteins in the human body primarily consist of the 20 standard amino acids.
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Answer 1

Amino acids are like the building blocks of proteins, which are super important for our bodies! They help make up parts of our cells, speed up chemical reactions as enzymes, act as hormones, and even help fight off germs as antibodies.

There are 20 standard amino acids that our bodies use to create proteins. We can split these amino acids into two main groups:

1. Essential Amino Acids: These are 9 special amino acids that our bodies can't make, so we have to get them from the food we eat. They are:

   • Histidine
   • Isoleucine
   • Leucine
   • Lysine
   • Methionine
   • Phenylalanine
   • Threonine
   • Tryptophan
   • Valine

2. Non-Essential Amino Acids: These are the 11 amino acids that our bodies can make on their own. So, we don’t really need to get these from our diet. They are:

   • Alanine
   • Arginine
   • Asparagine
   • Aspartic acid
   • Cysteine
   • Glutamic acid
   • Glutamine
   • Glycine
   • Proline
   • Serine
   • Tyrosine

Besides these standard amino acids, there are also some other special types called "modified amino acids" or "non-standard amino acids." They can help with specific proteins or have unique jobs in our bodies. But when it comes to the main amino acids that build our proteins, we mostly just use those 20 standard ones!