I'm interested in everyone's opinion on the statements I'm about to
make...they are not based on a great deal of thought or research...
1. The biosynthetic pathways for non-essential amino acids have been
maintained principally because these amino acids have some important
biological role (besides prot. synthesis) ... classic eg. glutamic acid
or...if that is too simplistic a view
2. Amino acids with important biological roles (besides prot. syn) MUST
have metabolic pathways conserved in order to maintain their
endogenous concentrations.
So...if this is true...then it is impossible / unlikely that a required
amino acid could function in an important regulatory role...like
neurotransmission for example.
I'm unlikely to be the first to propose this...and it may be blatantly
obvious to everyone...or complete crap...but I've never run accross an
explanation as to why some aa's are essential and others not...so I
thought I would throw this out to the metabol-reg group and see what
happens...
Stephen Misener
Queen's U Biology
miseners at QUCDN.QueensU.CA
