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Amino Acids (Part 1) Trivia Quiz

Get ready for a bit of biochemistry! This quiz tackles only ten of the twenty commonly known proteinogenic amino acids.

A multiple-choice quiz by lacourzan95. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
lacourzan95

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
371,350

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
300

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Which of the following is a non-essential sulfur-containing amino acid? Hint

methionine

glutamate

valine

cysteine

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Question 2 of 10

2. Which of these amino acids has an acidic side chain, where a carboxyl group is brought about from a gamma carbon? Hint

histidine

aspartate

glutamate

serine

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which of the following aromatic amino acids was first produced by Frederick Gowland Hopkins and Sydney Cole in 1901, through the trypsin-induced digestion of casein? Hint

histidine

tyrosine

phenylalanine

tryptophan

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Question 4 of 10

4. Which of the following aromatic amino acids contains an imidazole group: a planar five-membered ring with two nitrogen atoms? Hint

histidine

tyrosine

phenylalanine

tryptophan

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Question 5 of 10

5. All codons with uracil and cytosine as the first and second bases, respectively, are translated to which amino acid? Hint

asparagine

threonine

glycine

serine

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Question 6 of 10

6. Which of the following is set apart from other amino acids for containing a secondary alpha amino group? Hint

valine

lysine

glutamine

proline

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Question 7 of 10

7. Which of the following is set apart from other amino acids for containing a non-stereogenic alpha carbon? Hint

glycine

leucine

cysteine

methionine

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Question 8 of 10

8. Among the following choices - isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine, and valine - which is aromatic in structure? Hint

isoleucine

phenylalanine

methionine

valine

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Question 9 of 10

9. Among the amino acids with basic side chains, the side chain of which amino acid has a pKa of around 12.48, making itself the most basic? Hint

arginine

histidine

lysine

tyrosine

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Question 10 of 10

10. Which of the following is a polar amino acid that is the last discovered proteinogenic amino acid, first isolated in the 1930s? Hint

glutamine

threonine

asparagine

leucine

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which of the following is a non-essential sulfur-containing amino acid?

Answer: cysteine

Like methionine, cysteine contains sulfur but through a thiol (-SH) group as a side chain. It is encoded by RNA sequences of uracil-guanine-cytosine (UGC) and uracil-guanine-uracil (UGU) (5' to 3') in genetic translation. Cysteine is present in food sources significantly rich in protein, such as pork, chicken, and milk products.

2. Which of these amino acids has an acidic side chain, where a carboxyl group is brought about from a gamma carbon?

Answer: aspartate

Aspartate or aspartic acid is found in the artificial sweetener, aspartame. It was discovered in 1827 by a French pharmacist Pierre J. Robiquet, who actually brought it about from asparagine through boiling asparagus juice with a base.

3. Which of the following aromatic amino acids was first produced by Frederick Gowland Hopkins and Sydney Cole in 1901, through the trypsin-induced digestion of casein?

Answer: tryptophan

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid possessing a bicyclic indole group--a benzene ring fused with a pyrrole containing nitrogen. One of its metabolic products has been used as a medium for the treatment of epilepsy.

4. Which of the following aromatic amino acids contains an imidazole group: a planar five-membered ring with two nitrogen atoms?

Answer: histidine

Histidine is a precursor amino acid to the hormone, histamine. The imidazole part of histidine became integral to the production of anti-fungal medicine, including ketoconazole in medicated shampoos. Its codons are cytosine-adenine-uracil (CAU) and cytosine-adenine-cytosine (CAC) (5' to 3').

5. All codons with uracil and cytosine as the first and second bases, respectively, are translated to which amino acid?

Answer: serine

Serine is a non-essential polar amino acid, due to the existence of a hydroxyl group as its side chain. Adenine-guanine-uracil (AGU) and adenine-guanine-cytosine (AGC) (5' to 3') are also its codons.

6. Which of the following is set apart from other amino acids for containing a secondary alpha amino group?

Answer: proline

Proline is the only amino acid to have a secondary amine, where the amine nitrogen is bonded to two alkyl groups rather than one. This property puts a limit to the aspects of bond rotation but promotes structural rigidity.

7. Which of the following is set apart from other amino acids for containing a non-stereogenic alpha carbon?

Answer: glycine

A carbon atom in a hydrocarbon molecule is stereogenic if it is bonded to four different substituents, including hydrogen. Aside from the carboxyl and amino groups, the alpha carbon of glycine is bonded to only two hydrogen atoms.

8. Among the following choices - isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine, and valine - which is aromatic in structure?

Answer: phenylalanine

The beta carbon of phenylalanine is bonded to a benzyl group; this amino acid was named such as though alanine is "phenylated". Phenylalanine is converted to tyrosine, from which neurotransmitters dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine indirectly occur.

9. Among the amino acids with basic side chains, the side chain of which amino acid has a pKa of around 12.48, making itself the most basic?

Answer: arginine

Arginine is also known in fundamental International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) terms as (S)-2-amino-5-guanidinopentanoic acid, and makes a positive reaction through the Sakaguchi test.

10. Which of the following is a polar amino acid that is the last discovered proteinogenic amino acid, first isolated in the 1930s?

Answer: threonine

The triplet codons of threonine all have adenine and cytosine as the first two nitrogenous bases.

Source: Author lacourzan95

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor rossian before going online.
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