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Category: Biology
Posted on: June 24, 2008 10:09 PM, by Molecule of the Day
Ornithine is an amino acid that occurs naturally in the body, but mostly as an intermediate in your body's nitrogen disposal cycle.
It rarely occurs in proteins, and we weren't sure why until some people tried to make some ornithine-containing polypeptides. Turns out it's not very well behaved, since a six membered ring will form, given any opportunity. It self-cleaves.
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Comments
The name ornithine suggests some connection with birds. Is there one?
Posted by: andy | June 25, 2008 7:46 PM
Andy,
Indeed there is.
Posted by: As You Lean | June 25, 2008 10:43 PM
Oh, had to memorize this in the Urea Cycle pathway Fall 2007 semester at Rutgers in my Molecular Bio & Biochemistry course. Wooo
Posted by: Mike Convente | July 1, 2008 11:22 PM