Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Glycine |
GlycineNoun1. The simplest amino acid found in proteins and the principal amino acid in sugar cane. 2. Genus of Asiatic erect or sprawling herbs: soya bean. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | A non-essential amino acid. It is found primarily in gelatin and silk fibroin and used therapeutically as a nutrient. It is also a fast inhibitory neurotransmitter. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Glycine is a nonpolar amino acid. It is the lightest of the 20 natural amino acids; its side chain is a hydrogen atom. Because there is a second hydrogen atom at the α carbon, glycine is not optically active.
Because glycine has such a small side chain, it can fit into many places where no other amino acid can. For example, only glycine can be the internal amino acid of a collagen helix.
Glycine is very evolutionarily stable at certain positions of some proteins (for example, in cytochrome c, myoglobin, and hemoglobin), because mutations that change it to an amino acid with a larger side chain could break the protein's structure.
Most proteins contain only small quantities of glycine. A notable exception is collagen, which is about one-third glycine.
In 1994 a team of astronomers from the University of Illinois, led by Lewis Snyder, claimed that they had found the glycine molecules in space. Turned out they hadn't. But eight years later, in 2002 Lewis Snyder and Yi-Jehng Kuan from National Taiwan Normal University repeated the finding, this time for real. The evidence that molecules of glycine exist in interstellar space was found when 10 spectrum lines of glycine were identified by radio telescope.
- Chemical formula: NH2CH2COOH
- Mass: 75.07
- Isoelectric point: 6.06
According to computer simulations and lab-based experiments, glycine was probably formed when ices containing simple organic molecules were exposed to ultraviolet light.
Before glycine, more than 130 simpler molecules were found in deep space, including sugars and ethanol. But amino acids, sometimes called building blocks of life, are a much more interesting find.
This does not prove that life exists outside Earth, but certainly make that possibility more likely, proving that amino acids exists in outer space. This also indirectly supports the idea of Panspermia, saying that life was brought to Earth from space.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Glycine."
Synonym: GlycineSynonym: genus Glycine (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Glycine |
| Specialty definitions using "glycine": 5-Aminolevulinate Synthetase ♦ Aminohippuric Acids, Aminolevulinic Acid ♦ Bile Acids and Salts ♦ Chenodeoxycholic Acid, Chlormethiazole, Cholic Acids ♦ Deoxycholic Acid ♦ gamma-Glutamylcyclotransferase, Glutathione Synthase, Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase, Glycine-tRNA Ligase, Glycochenodeoxycholic Acid, Glycodeoxycholic Acid ♦ Lithocholic Acid ♦ Mercaptopropionylglycine ♦ p-Aminohippuric Acid, Peptide Nucleic Acids, porcine endogenous retrovirus B1 ♦ Receptors, Amino Acid, Receptors, GABA-A, Receptors, Glycine, Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate, RNA, Transfer, Gly ♦ Tropocollagen, Trypsin Inhibitor, Bowman-Birk Soybean. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "glycine": Glucina. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Glycine" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (Wistaria). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | The NMDA receptor complex. Activation (i.e., excitation) occurs when either glutamate (Glu) or N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and glycine (Gly) bind to the receptor molecule. Credit: NIAA. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Other receptors with links to myoclonus include those for opiates, drugs that induce sleep, and for glycine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is important for the control of motor and sensory functions in the spinal cord. More research is needed to determine how these receptor abnormalities cause or contribute to myoclonus. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Glycine" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 84.85% of the time. "Glycine" is used about 33 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 84.85% | 28 | 65,706 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 6.06% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 6.06% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 3.03% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 33 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "glycine": genus Glycine ♦ Glycine Agents ♦ Glycine Hydroxymethyltransferase ♦ glycine max ♦ Glycine Soja. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "glycine": Glycine-tRNA Ligase. | |
Ending with "glycine": arginine-glycine, non-glycine. | |
Containing "glycine": arginine-glycine-aspartic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
glycine | 111 |
glycine watch | 35 |
glycine airman | 10 |
glycine max | 8 |
amino acid glycine | 7 |
l glycine | 6 |
pyruval glycine | 6 |
betaine desert glycine in mechanism plant | 5 |
glycine index | 4 |
glycine histoire | 2 |
glycine betaine | 2 |
glycine structure | 2 |
glycine supplement | 2 |
buffer glycine | 2 |
combat glycine | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "glycine"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 氨基乙酸. (various references) | |
Danish | glycocol (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glycin (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), aminoeddikesyre (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
Dutch | glycocoll (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glycocol (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glycine (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), amino-azijnzuur (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), aminoazijnzuur (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
Finnish | glysiini (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glykokolli (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), aminoetikkahappo (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
French | glycocolle (glycin, glycocoll), glycine (glycin, glycocoll), acide aminoacétique (glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
German | Glyzin (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Glykokoll (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Glycin (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Gly (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Leimzucker (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Leimsüß (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Aminoessigsäure (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), Acidum aminoaceticum (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
Greek | γλυκίνη και το άλας της με νάτριο (E640, glycine and its sodium salt), Ε640 (E640, glycine and its sodium salt), δοκιμασία ανεκτικότητος της γλυκίνης (glycine tolerance test). (various references) | |
Hungarian | glikokoll, glicin, alfa-amino-ecetsav. (various references) | |
Italian | glicocolle (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glicocolla (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glicina (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), acido amminoacetico (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | グリオキシル酸回路 (glissade, glycerin, glycerol, glycogen, glyoxylate cycle, grease, Greenwich, grid, gridding, grinding against, grip, rubbing against and turn). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | グリシン . (various references) | |
Korean | 글리신. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ycineglay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | glicina (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
Spanish | glicocola (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), glicina (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll), ácido aminoacético (aminoacetic acid, glycin, glycocoll). (various references) | |
Swedish | glycin och dess natriumsalt (glycine and its sodium salt), E 640 (E640, glycine and its sodium salt). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "glycine": glycines. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "glycine" (pronounced glī"sē'n or glī"sun) |
| 3 | -s ē' n | internecine, kerosene, overseen, plasticine. |
| 4 | -ī" s u n | bison, Hyson. |
| 3 | -s u n | fasten, aflatoxin, angiotensin, antitoxin, arson, assassin, basin, bolson, businessperson, capsaicin, chairperson, chasten, christen, claxon, comparison, congressperson, damson, delicatessen, diocesan, dioxin, Dobson, ensign, garrison, Gibson, glisten, hasten, jettison, keelson, kelson, layperson, lessen, lesson, listen, loosen, Mason, medicine, moisten, myosin, Nelson, newsperson, oxen, oxytocin, parson, person, rechristen, rhodopsin, salesperson, spokesperson, toxin, unison, venison, washbasin, weatherperson, worsen. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-g-i-l-n-y" | |
-1 letter: clingy, glycin, nicely. | |
-2 letters: cline, cling, eying, genic, ingle, liney, lingy, lying, yince. | |
-3 letters: ceil, cine, gien, glen, gley, inly, lice, lien, line, ling, liny, nice. | |
-4 letters: cel, cig, eng, gel, gen, gey, gie, gin, ice, icy, leg, lei, ley, lie, lin, lye, nil, yen, yin. | |
-5 letters: el, en, in, li, ne, ye. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-g-i-l-n-y" | |
+1 letter: glycerin, glycines. | |
+2 letters: genically, glycerine, glycerins, lackeying, lysogenic, polygenic, recycling. | |
+3 letters: becomingly, covetingly, enticingly, exactingly, excitingly, fetchingly, glycerines, lacqueying, menacingly, piercingly. | |
+4 letters: acceptingly, acetylating, affectingly, angelically, bellyaching, caressingly, coemploying, cognitively, congenially, cylindering, deceivingly, embracingly, eugenically, exceedingly, flyspecking, generically, genetically, genotypical, geosyncline, glycerinate, gynecologic, hectoringly, lichenology, multiagency, panegyrical, polygenetic, preachingly, rejectingly, rejoicingly, screamingly, searchingly, sickeningly, unceasingly, wrenchingly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
