Memorize the 20 amino acids in 20 minutes (Part 1)

In this video we share a method of remembering the structures of the 20 commonly occurring amino acids through tricks involving their single-letter abbreviations. We do not cover any amino acid chemistry in this video (like chemical properties), just the structures. We hope you find it helpful, and if you find any errors or have any suggestions for improvement, please let us know!
Video by Sean Mutchnick, with special thanks to Larry Manders, Erwin Patalinghug and Jovica Veljanovski for 'peer-reviewing'.

[@kellyjohn9145]

I don't know if anyone's commented this one before, but I've found a pretty helpful hint for memorizing Threonine with phonetics. This amino acid has three oxygens and nine hydrogens; so if I'm given the structure and am asked to name what the amino acid it is, I'll count the oxygens and hydrogens in the molecule; it's a bit of a stretch, but I think in my head "THREe Oxygens and NINE hydrogens" (which spells out THREONINE if you use the capitalized letters). Hope this helps someone else as much as it helps me!

[@kameliasali9639]

Thank you!

[@gloriaaddo9659]

Thank you

[@luzcarrero4502]

Thanks a lot

[@gabriellegahn2051]

5 years later and still super helpful, thank you!!!

[@roshansharma8789]

To memorize the single letter abbreviations for Tyrosine, Tryptophan, and Phenylalanine I think of the song "Young, Wild, and Free" by Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg. The first letter of each of those words represents the three amino acids so Young would be for Tyrosine, Wild would be for Tryptophan, and Free would be for Phenylalanine. Hope this helps and thanks for this video!

[@choochd]

You're a teenager?

[@Antweezy]

So what we get drunk

[@zacharyddrzipac]

@@Antweezy So what we smoke weeeeed

[@tjay45]

Try Mordins Song From Mass Effect 3 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHSkhpSPpcd7rbs

[@megane.7792]

@@zacharyddrzipac We're just having fuuuun

[@heatherfitzgerrell4765]

For anyone who is wondering if this is a good video. It is AMAZING. Even if you are learning the three letter abbreviation instead of the 1 letter it does a FANTASTIC job. I learned 5 at a time and kept rewriting them. All in all it took me a little less than 2 hours to completely memorize them last night. I took hour breaks and STILL remembered them. I woke up this morning and rewrote them all and still knew them! WORTH THE WATCH. ***NOTE: Proline is a little incorrect. When drawing the structure, the original NH3 should "turn into" an NH2. The way I think of it is the tail of the P that the narrator uses to draw the structure actually goes through the NH3 when he draws it and that should cause one of the Hydrogens in NH3 to "splice" off forming NH2 instead.

[@fayis4558]

Good

[@naomi2986]

Doesn't proline only have 1 hydrogen bonded to it? I thought it was NH in the ring

[@Seenshadow]

List of contents: Glycine 1:50 Alanine 2:30 Valine 2:45 Leucine 3:08 Isoleucine 3:28 Methionine 3:52 Proline 4:55 Phenylalanine 5:42 Tyrosine 6:25 Tryptophan 7:05 Serine 8:46 Threonine 8:56

[@korisx]

So in order to memorise the 20 amino acids we have to memorise them first?

[@vennish11]

Holy shit Sherlock, you're a genius!

[@korisx]

vennish11 then why does this make me cry!?

[@borgaroids]

korisx Had a professor who told me than when you cry, it's a sign that you are almost there... so keep it up and cry:) My Biochem class is making me cry-puke:)

[@MrTaeyyy]

borgaroids believe me if I say I'm NOT almost there. And I'm crying

[@TropicalChris]

+borgaroids : I cried during Chem I, and since then I've done great in chemistry...lol. so that is a great point!

[@mavamQ]

Proline (P), P for penta, Penta means 'having 5', and Proline has a 5 member ring.

[@zerberus3105]

I never comment on KZbin, but this video a blessing! I have always struggled with memorizing dry facts with no apparent "connections", but visually incorporating the amino acid letters makes memorizing surprisingly easy. Thanks for this amazing video and to whomever came up with this brilliant method, it will definitely help me prepare for my medical exams :)

[@musicgurl112]

I can't thank you enough for making this video. I had a chem exam last Friday where we had to be able to identify residues along polypeptide chains, along with their characteristics, and I thought I would be a goner! I watched this through a few times, and was shocked at how quickly I memorized the structures. It cut my studying time down by a lot, and I sailed through that section on the exam with no problem. Thank you!!!!!!

[@maheletdalke3849]

You are carrying me through my MCAT studying journey ❤️❤️❤️

[@NoahSmith37]

This is pretty awesome, I'm having to memorize all of these for Biochem right now. A lot of these helped a lot, so thank you!

[@lupinearsenalALT]

where's my MCAT fam at?

[@pspguy123]

stfu.

[@Medicinema911]

😭

[@studyliveabroad]

I think this video is really cool. I memorized all structures literally in 40 minutes. Watched it 2 times and drew it all out myself. Amazing. Thanx a lot

[@serenahigbee1928]

I remember Serine by relating it to SOH CAH TOA. S has an OH; it's a bit of a stretch but it might help somebody.

[@edepepolas2624]

It is used by french ppl for trigonometry

[@stopaskingme100]

thank you

[@michaelaustin1624]

Found this extremely helpful. if you pay close attention, literally 20min is all it takes. dont even need to review the video several times.

[@uhRoid]

I'm a student in the premed path at harvard university, and this was, by far, the most useful video for my biochemistry class. Thank you!

[@singingjewel7618]

you guys are amazing! it's so cool that you share this with everybody!! it would have helped me A LOT a few years ago. thanks, guys!

[@mishalu473]

Theorine is like Valine, just replace a one of the methyl groups from valine to an "OH". Personally i like to think T.V. I hope this helps someone!

[@vishalmishra3046]

I find it simpler to build the molecule incrementally and bind a name of the amino acid at each step. For example, Amino is -NH2 and Carboxylic acid is -COOH, so attaching both to an alpha-carbon in the middle creates the simplest amino acid - Glycine (Gly = G = H2N-CH2-COOH and then generalize the side-chain to H2N-CH(R)-COOH). Now all Amino acids can be created by starting with a side-chain (R) of -CH3 (methyl group) creating Alanine (A = Ala) and then replace H with alcohol and acid groups e.g. -OH (S = Ser = Serine). Oxygen can be replaced with Sulphur or Selenium from the same family in the periodic table, to get C = Cys = Cystein and U = Sec = Seleno-Cystein. This process continues by replacing -OH with -COOH through Aspartic and Glutamic acid and ends in Tryptophan (W) covering all 22 amino acids (including O = Pyl = Pyro-Lysine). Perhaps I should make a video if this method works for others. It is wonderful to see so many different ways in which human mind remembers these complex 3D structures Everyone has their own unique way of memorizing.

[@Avoide222]

Those two videos are great! After watching them I can already distinguish between them in just 20min :)

[@Mrracer67]

tyrosine = (tire)-O-sine, it is a tire with an O

[@adnanalkurdi4823]

thanks

[@camerongeller7660]

+Adnan Galeeb sine in tyrosine is like trigonometry where sine = opposite / hypotenuse and tyrosine has an OH group :)

[@mariabenavides4992]

oh! :O

[@stacyroelofs6054]

you saved my life with this video

[@marasmithson6218]

literally.

[@AnnWMedSchoolPizzazz]

To remember Tryptophan is W: "double ring, double you". Double you sounds like "w" :)

[@DijyowLee]

I graduated my undergrad a few years ago yet I still come back to this video because it's just so good

[@adamburroughs8374]

For Tyrosine and Phenylalanine Remember: "Tyrosine is Tryna Look Like Phenylalanine" Tyrosine is just a Phenylalanine with an "OH" group.

[@Lindapharmd]

Thank you!!! I know you've all graduated by now and busy doing residencies but can you please come back and do more videos? These 2 videos are amazing!!!

[@misslaaaura]

i love this man's voice

[@umi4610]

+misslaaaura YESSS and that laugh at 1:32

[@googomanpuckyeah5103]

One of the usefullest videos on KZbin...thanks guys...Post what ever u can...it will somehow help us

[@nahomelion]

You added an extra carbon on Methionine, but everything else is so helpful! Thank you so much!

[@Ambidestrian]

AWESOME! I had these memorized in one run through the video. I tested myself hours later and I just switched up the double bonds on Histidine. Good work!

[@navyanshmahla5798]

Very helpful when you have your exam just one hour away!

[@H.Mark.]

OMG i've been trying to memorize these forever and i was unsuccessful, not even close, until i watch this video this morning before my biochem quiz, and voila' i drew all 20 amino acids in less than ten minutes. great video..i should've found you guys earlier!!!

[@lolarambo9452]

I've watched so many of these videos online and this is the first one that actually worked for me!!! :) THANK YOUUUU!!!!!!

[@nrk2025]

this is pure innovation in memorizing!! Americans have one of the best educational techniques, I miss the US

[@amybigmac]

this is fantastic! I'm cramming for my first biochem exam tomorrow and this is really helpful-- Thank you so much for making this!

[@guff6387]

The tyrosine should have a 120 degree angle between the bond of the beta carbon and carbon 4 of the phenyl. Some may draw a straight line and get marked down for missing a CH2. Good video though.

[@makischa2]

Guys, if I pass my exam it's gonna be all on you and your 2 videos!!!! Thank you soooo much for this! I really appreciate it!

[@moe_abdelhaq8348]

Dammn it’s been 9 years how life is going with you

[@makischa2]

@@moe_abdelhaq8348 Ended up with a PhD

[@milicajanosevic2616]

Never seen anything more brilliant in my life

[@Rose-qm9zj]

Best Video ever👍🏼 listend to the explanation a year ago and still know how to draw all of them

[@MiguelPereira-mf1nq]

One way to classify "special" smells is to smell the twenty basic twenty amino acids, remember them, and classify any "special" smell under the category of one of the twenty amino acids. I did that over forty years ago, and I have tables of correspondence tables that have the twenty basic amino acids corresponding to analogous things: > 1. itza, don, decider, alanine, dice: 4&2 > 2. imix, drun, distributor, glycine, 6&1 > 3. ik, ceph, memory, aspartic acid, 3&3 > 4. akbal, graph, encoder, tryptophan, 3&5 > 5. kun, un, extruder, hydroxyproline, 1&1 > 6. chachuen, fam, EPR, methionine, 6&5 > 7. cimi, orth, supporter, tyrosine, 6&2 > 8.*oc, tal, producer, threonine, 4&4 > 9. lamat, vau, internal trn., valine, 5&5 > 10. muluc, gon, output trn., glutamine, 4&5 > 11.*manic, pe, ingestor, lycine, 4&6 > 12. chuen, ged, storage, phenylalanine, 2&5 > 13. eb, med, channel&net, asparagine, 3&6 > 14. ben, gizga, EPA, cysteine, 1&3 > 15. ix, ur, reproducer, proline, 2&3 > 16. menn, mals, decoder, serine, 6&6 > 17. kib, veh, motor, histidine, 1&2 > 18. caban, pal, boundary, glutamic acid,1&5 > 19. eznab, nahath, input trn., leucine, 2&2 > 20. cuac, ger, associator, isoleucine, 4&1 > 21. ahau, gal, converter, arginine, 4&3 > *: These have been exchanged in modern times. EPR is > Entropy Prodction Rate. EPA is Entropy Production > Acceleration. And, trn. is transducer. was too obscure for you. These words have meanings in different languages. For example, let's take the last one here, #21, ahau means flower, and is one of the twenty Mayan calendrical symbols. It was amazing; Dr. John Dee, in the Sixteenth Century, presented the Enochian alphabet, whose names don't sound like the letters they represent, but, the names of these twenty-one letters mean the same as Dr. James Miller's subsystems in his book "Living Systems", the primary text book of living systems dynmaics. For example in #21 the word "gal" is the pre-Aryan word for the living systems subsystem the "converter". One of the twenty amino acids produced from the DNA code, in this case "arginine", is represented here. The extra amino acid in this system is hydroxyproline, which is produced from a code in the "junk" DNA, the most important product of the "junk" DNA. The DNA code is composed of combinations of four nucleic acids, giving 64 different combinations, like the Yi Jing. But, most of the basic 20 amino acids are produced from more than one of these combinations. These 20 amino acids compose proteins which build the body and assemble other compounds together to compose our complete body. There are seven levels of living systems: cells, organs, entities (like us, animals, and plants), groups (like families, gangs, teams, etc.), organizations, societies, and suprasocietal living systems. All of these depend upon their 21 subsystems. If any subsystem is missing, a higher living system must provide a substitute, or, that living system with the missing subsystem will die. The number combinations at the end of each line of correspondences represent the combinations of dice symbols, which have symbols to represent them: 1, . ; 2, U ; 3, / ; 4, O ; 5, X ; and 6, = . You will notice that these symbols span the usual dice symbols. Now we combine these six into 21 symbols. The way I've seen the 4&3 drawn is a circle with a vertical diameter, which also represents the lette D. So, each one of these also represents a letter. Also, of coincidence for English speaking people, the compination for B is 4&6, which is a cicle with a horizontal parallel in it that makes this symbol look like a bumble bee (B). Since we use these subsystems all the time it is organizing to notice them. For example, when we go grocery shopping for our family, we become the ingestor by getting the groceries, extruder by extruding the money to pay for the groceries, distributor by bringing the groceries to our family, and then we use the storage subsystem of our family (group) by storing the groceries where they are stored. And, if we decided what to buy, we were also the decider for our family. But, every group, organization, society, and suprasocietal living system, has a decider that has been called a group mind. The Greek for "group spirit" is "demon", which comes from the Greek root "dem" from which we get the word "democracy". So, we have the group mind to help us. Then, that's literally "demonic". The group entity is a magnetic flux circulating through all the medullas in the brains of all the group's members. But, us Christians are only supposed to have Jesus Christ as our group mind, "having the mind of Christ", and, being members of the "Body of Christ". In the Middle Ages the ranks of these fallen "angels" were defined. The demon of a group was called an angel; for an organization, an archangel; for a society, a principality; and for a suprasocietal living system, a power. Now you can see what was meant, "We fight not flesh and blood; we fight principalities and powers". To kill an evil principality,, we'll take Massachusetts as an example. Divide the state into two new states: east of the Conneticut River we'll name Eastwick; and, west of the Conneticut river we'll name Berkshire. Then watch the nasty, nit picking Massachusetts Souls turn nice. Smelling licorice is like, but easier than, transcendental meditation. Licorice is synesthetically onomatopoeic to a hollow cylinder, and it stirs closed circuitry in the brain that goes confluent with the circuit that is the entity so that near nonexistence, nirvana, is experienced. Everything is actually striving for nonexistence. Nonexistence is the ultimate essence of pleasure. The corresponding sound, the sound of a hollow cylinder, pronounced "eyennn", like the German word for one, "ein", means "nothingness", aleph yod nun", in Hebrew, and is onomatopoeic by meaning a well, but, it also means an eye and a ring. The movie "The Ring" plays upon this, the "lost word".

[@girlsgotlove]

You are the best person on Earth for making this video. I love you.

[@ttime24]

showed my professor and she sent it to the whole class!!..great video guys

[@lizolive2041]

Thanks for the video -- really helpful for rememorizing the structures and some name tricks! If you ever remake it, definitely be a bit more clear about the angle between the beta carbon and the R side chain -- sometimes it seems like you're putting a straight line and it could be confusing if you're not very familiar with the structures yet (like for F).

[@aiwilde]

S comes before T, So Serine is a theronine minus a substituent :) That's how I remember it!

[@ShalinPatel3186]

For Tryptophan, just know that Turkey has a lot of tryptophan, so think of it as Wild Turkey, to remember the W for it.

[@CC-fb6kj]

Thanks Shalin. Truly helpful

[@ShalinPatel3186]

lmao wow I didn't think anyone wanna gonna see the comment haha

[@ashleystahlman2843]

This was super helpful! Thank you! Any tricks on how to memorize which are polar/non-polar? I know I will probably get some mixed up on my test next week (yes I have a cell bio test the second week back LOL @ me...) but yay senior year of college! Let me know!

[@chinch112]

Amazing video watched it at 5 am for a test at 8 am didn't study my amino acid structures at al and got 4 out 5 right

[@AusitnWard]

Proline needs to lose a hydrogen at the amino group.

[@SamyBizi]

THIS WAS A LIFE SAVER! And it actually works! Thank you guys soooo much!!!

[@nevfalasion]

Thank you for the help. One thing to mention is that in Proline, the NH3+ will become NH2+ in the five-member ring.

[@medmar930]

don't know how to say thanks!! you guys are amazing! this video helped me over and over again!

[@charliesheen7312]

this vid rocks. i knew all 20 aminos after only watching and practicing all the structures in an hour tops

[@AMINNAMJOYNIK]

life saver you are....thank you... I love learning by heart like this :) now I can focus on properties and understand each completely

[@TropicalChris]

I feel like on a few of your drawings, such as Tryptophan, you did not add the extra Carbon in between the benzene ring and the alpha Carbon. It should be Carbon (alpha) - Carbon - Benzene... Right?

[@willarmero1673]

+Crist Gord he did, the change in color is supposed to be a carbon

[@sunniedissuperyummy]

I remember Tryptophan's code bc my biochem prof said it's the Widest amino acid. But this video helped so much with putting the N in the right place. I mess up the nitrogen location and where the double bond goes in the 5 member ring sometimes. Thanks!

[@juliettemcghee8189]

Proline is wrong...Should be NH2 on the backbone, not NH3...

[@sweetenergy]

Awesome! You've made memorizing these structures a snap!

[@DaViDsMoMmA11]

Thank you so much. This video has really helped me in biochem!

[@animeluv06]

My whole school uses this video lmao Our professor actually posts the link up. -University of Windsor says Thanks!!

[@slimnyoung]

What are you studying? Just curious.

[@animeluv06]

Biochemistry :)

[@wem3121]

You're amazing and this video is so lovely to watch and very easy to remember, you just saved me. really!

[@YS-uf1gb]

this is so on point...even when you say 'you have to really stretch' lol as long as you stretch when he tells you to..use your imagination!!..you will get this..thanks for the upload!

[@comicus01]

overall, good video. Just wanted to add that one could in fact work in an "S" shape when drawing Serine. Tracing the path from the OH to the NH3 makes a rough S shape.

[@bjgirl2011]

omg i so love you!i never rly considered learning them like that!you make it seem sooooo easy!where were u when i had to take organic?thank you!

[@martinagarda9834]

Corrections: There's 20 amino acids not 21, Z is not an AA.I think the table needs to be corrected to an updated version from a reliable source. Proline's backbone changes from NH3 to NH2 and a + charge. In Tryptophan you are missing an H next to the N in the ring (don't assume is there). It's a great video! BUT IT NEEDS TO BE UPDATED!

[@tajdakrajnc6854]

Brilliant and very helpful! Thnk you!

[@Devz0r]

Tyrosine - Tyre-OH-sine Phenyl looks like a TIRE, round with the aromatic circle (hub cap). OH is the alcohol group, all attached in a line.

[@juliesegers5902]

To memorize glycine and alanine, you just need to think of the letters that come behind the one letter abbreviations in the alphabet: Glycine, G the next letter in the alphabet is H and for glycine you just have to add two H's, same for Alanine, A the next letter is B which is almost the same as the letter bèta so you know you just have to add 1 bèta carbon

[@Melodoniak]

One way to remember the general structure of proline is that because it's "pro", it "bends backwards" (Pro as in pro in gymnastics or whatever).

[@basedvato]

This is an awesome video, the mass amount of info needed to memorize in some of these science course's, any little tricks help. I am gearing up for a bio chem exam, and this is how I will memorize these structures. Thanks so much! I think you do need to know these for med school? I know at least Pharmacy School is heavy in biochem, so I'd assume first year med school isn't largely different?

[@JamesGmario]

I LOVE THIS VIDEO, too bad I found it on the day before my biochemistry exam, I would have shared it with my class... I will, guess I'm gonna pass alone...

[@150buckfifty150]

I have a biochem exam in like 20 minutes, and this is the one thing I didn't study...until now :D:D thanks a lot!

[@gamerboyss5310]

how was it???

[@maudemusic]

Thank you for creating this video! so nice of you to share :)

[@SeanBeanKenobi]

That's a really helpful hint! also this is kinda weird but i find it helps to remember that ThYROid Hormones are derived from TYROsine so they have the aromatic ring (google thyroxine and Triiodothyronine if you dont know what rambling about). Yea its kind of a stretch to remember i know. :P

[@ChilangaBanda08]

Your video is just fantastic, I love you!!! ... greetings from Houston Texas!!!

[@Almatataa]

you made a little bit mistake of the Proline and its all awesome,thank you !!

[@mage1413]

I good trick for tyrosine is just to think of the TYRO part as TIRE. tires are round, so you know that tyrosine will have a "round"/cyclic ring on it :) just remember to add the OH haha. I mainly use it when i get confused between tyrosone and threonine

[@noeds6031]

but proline is a little bit wrong, when you paint the five member ring one must take away one H from the H3N+ since N will form a new bond sorry for bad english

[@charliedick3231]

Extremely helpful, thank you putting this video together

[@Rose-qm9zj]

Great video, I learned the amino acids pretty fast with your amino acids

[@66boliva08]

For proline at physiological pH it may also be helpful to show that the amino group is protonated to NH2+ (the video makes it seem like it might be NH3+)

[@dons731]

This guys is hilarious... different kind of charm.. .thanks also for the video

[@HerbalCulture]

Thanks for saving my butt DrawITKnow it. You guys are awesome. Here are some mnemonics for the single letters codes: G.ive A. V.iolin L.esson I.f M.other W.ants F.ancy P.earls = Non polar amino acids S.tick T.o C.reating Y.our N.asty Q.uacks = Polar D.ont E.at = Acid K.ill R.un H.ide = Base

[@Lildeviljt]

Tyrosine: Tire-sine --> Tire --> Circle --> Phenol group = Circle --> Why (Y) do people drink Alcohol (OH) and drive but can still parallel (Para) park

[@dgbrearley]

Proline should be NH2+ not NH3+, but great work!

[@arkaneforyou]

Dan Brearley you are right.

[@werealldudesya]

Wow, this is very very helpful! Thank you so much for putting this together.

[@ariannasser2385]

This video is GOLD, cheers

[@DementedAngel7803]

Thank you so much for this video! It's going to help me tremendously!

[@failingchemist]

Yes you're correct. They way he drew it only showed the alpha but you need the beta as well.

[@bballdunker]

To help memorize Threonine, Thr, T. Remember that some Brits like to enjoy their "T"ea with alcohol (OH). Helped me memorize it at least.

[@TheCasablancalilly]

This video kept my brain from exploding :D thank you!

[@uzairmumtaz6180]

Thank You so much! From UC Irvine Pre-Med student.

[@faryaarshad9846]

THANK YOU SO MUCHM GOD BLESS YOU!

[@esotericraven]

Just thought that maybe for tyrosine you could say there's a "tire" in the middle connecting the backbone with the hydroxyl group. Otherwise this is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo helpful!!!!!

[@fabianaglenn5206]

Would you be able to post the previous version of this video? That was how I memorized it for the MCAT. Now that I'm in med school I am trying to refresh it but this is different and I wish I could watch the older version.

[@corywantstoknow]

Maria there's a C in between the OH and methyl group. That carbon is beta because the C from the CH is alpha

[@sjmccallice]

must of been an M1 to be so grateful and share with your classmates

[@xHaniffax]

I'm sure people have their own but this is how I remember the 1 Letters R-ginine GlutQmine GlutamicE acid LysineK AsparagiNe AsparDic acid Fenylalanine tYrosine and can't think of one for tryptophan but I know one of the letters is W so process of elimination.

[@taylorwsims]

Methionine: contains the root -thio which means sulfur as in thiol or thioester.

[@majorgeneralmalaise]

Pyrrolysine exists only in a few archaea and bacteria, so it's pretty much irrelevant to everyone except microbiologists. I think selenocysteine is not in there because it's not coded for directly in the genetic code (plus it's pretty easy to remember that it's just cysteine with selenium instead of sulfur anyway). These are the 20 MAIN amino acids that most biologists should memorize.

[@robinmichaelazarcon]

This sir, is GENUIS!

[@tamlovesmom]

this video definitely helped. I look at the 20 amino acids in my textbook and they just scream at me