What is Cysteine?

About Cysteine:

• It is a sulfur containing amino acid with diverse roles in protein function and oxidative metabolism.
• It is a non-essential amino acid.
• It is one of the least abundant amino acids, yet it is frequently found as a highly conserved residue within functional (regulatory, catalytic, or binding) sites in proteins.
• It is abundant in beta-keratin, a key structural protein in nails, skin, and hair.
• Importance:
  • Cysteine is important for making collagen. It affects skin elasticity and texture.
  • It helps make antioxidants like glutathione, which protect our cells from harm.
  • It also plays a role in creating taurine, a substance that helps with things like digestion and keeping our heart healthy.
  • Cysteine is also involved in helping our body get rid of harmful substances through a process called detoxification.
• Low cysteine levels might mean that your body isn't making enough of this semi-essential amino acid, or you're not getting enough from foods like meat, dairy, and eggs.
• Symptoms of low levels of Cysteine may include fatigue, weakness, slow growth in children, and a weakened immune system.

What are Amino Acids?

• An amino acid is the fundamental molecule that serves as the building block for proteins.
• There are 20 different amino acids.
• A protein consists of one or more chains of amino acids (called polypeptides) whose sequence is encoded in a gene.
• Essential amino acids:
  • Essential amino acids cannot be made by the body. As a result, they must come from food.
  • The 9 essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
• Non-Essential amino acids:
  • Nonessential means that our bodies can produce the amino acid, even if we do not get it from the food we eat.
  • Nonessential amino acids include alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine.