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Substitutions:
Alanine generally prefers to substitute with
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other
small amino acid, Pro, Gly, Ser.
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Role
in structure: Alanine is arguably the most boring
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amino
acid. It is not particularly hydrophobic and is non-
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polar.
However, it contains a normal C-beta carbon,
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meaning
that it is generally as hindered as other amino
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acids
with respect to the conforomations that the backbone
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can
adopt. For this reason, it is not surprising to see
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Alanine
present in just about all non-critical protein
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contexts.
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Role
in function: The Alanine side chain is very non-
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reactive,
and is thus rarely directly involved in protein
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function.
However it can play a role in substrate
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recognition
or specificity, particularly in interactions with
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other
non-reactive atoms such as carbon.
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