Tryptophan

My work days are spent surrounded by peptides, which are mostly a white powder (unless they’ve got a fluorescent group attached – then they’re an orange or red powder – pretty, but annoying, especially the red group; it gets onto, and into, everything). Peptides, which are basically short, linear proteins, are made from amino acids joined together (somewhere between 10 and 20 amino acids makes for a good length). Having worked for a long time in the peptide-making business, I’ve come to know the peptides and amino acids – their hopes and dreams, their illicit desires. Some are easy to work with, you can treat them roughly, throw them around the lab, leave them in the sun – they’re fine. Others fall apart if you so much as look at them the wrong way. I’m not going to name names, for fear an amino acid might learn to read, get access to the internet and find my blog – biochemistry hath no fury like an amino acid scorned.

An amino acid I’m quite fond of is tryptophan. Some of the foods it is found in are milk, eggs, peanuts, bananas and chocolate - which are all things I like to eat. Among its many biochemical actions in the body is its role in promoting sleep (mainly via melatonin) – which is an ‘activity’ I enjoy. It is a chemical precursor for my favourite neurotransmitter, serotonin. Another reason I’m fond of tryptophan is that its side chain group contains indole; I worked with an indole-derived moiety for my honours project, so there is some nostalgia associated with it…(this last sentence may not make sense to anyone who hasn’t studied Organic Chemistry…I make no apologies…a thorough and well-rounded education should include a course in Organic Chemistry, and watching all episodes of Buffy at least 3 times). And finally, I think tryptophan is best appreciated by studying its chemical structure:





And isn’t that indole group beautiful.

web link for chemical structure