Alanine

Alanine (abbreviated as Ala or A) is an α-amino acid with the chemical formula CH₃CH(NH₂)COOH. The -isomer is one of the 20 amino acids encoded by the genetic code. Its codons are GCU, GCC, GCA, and GCG. It is classified as a nonpolar amino acid. -Alanine is second only to leucine in rate of occurrence, accounting for 7.8% of the primary structure in a sample of 1,150 proteins. -Alanine occurs in bacterial cell walls and in some peptide antibiotics.