amino acids

Cultural  

1. Basic organic molecules (see also organic molecule) that combine to form proteins. Amino acids are made up of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. Some examples of amino acids are lysine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan.

---

Discover More

Amino acids are the basic molecular building blocks of proteins.

Example Sentences

“You build on the brain’s natural ability to bring in important things, like iron or amino acids, and catch a ride,” he says.

From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026

Peptides—short chains of amino acids marketed for recovery, muscle growth and antiaging—have become popular among U.S. wellness figures including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joe Rogan, despite limited evidence for many of their claimed benefits.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

At the same time, CNMa also traveled through the bloodstream as a hormone, reaching the brain more gradually and reinforcing the drive to seek essential amino acids.

From Science Daily • May 28, 2026

Among all the amino acids tested, cysteine produced the strongest regenerative effect on both stem cells and progenitor cells, which eventually mature into adult intestinal cells.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2026

A triplet-based code had 64 combinations—enough for all twenty amino acids, with extra ones still left over to specify other coding functions, such as “stopping” or “starting” a protein chain.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee