Compound Class

Amino Acids & Proteins

Amino acids, peptides, and proteins — including directly bioactive free amino acids and plant proteins.

125 Constituents2 Subclasses28 Source herbs

Overview

What Are Amino Acids & Proteins?

Amino acids are the nitrogen-containing building blocks of life — small molecules that link through peptide bonds to form peptides and, at greater length, proteins. That nitrogen backbone sets them apart from the carbon-and-oxygen scaffolds of most other plant constituents.

Every living cell depends on them, but for a phytochemistry reference the interest lies less in that bulk nutritional role than in the specific free amino acids and discrete proteins that are directly bioactive.

Where They Occur

Most amino acids in a plant are bound up in protein, but a free pool always circulates as the currency of nitrogen transport and storage. Some plants concentrate particular free amino acids to notable levels:

Tea (Camellia sinensis)

L-theanine

Velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens)

L-DOPA

Griffonia simplicifolia

5-HTP

Fermented foods and some fruits

GABA

Legumes and seeds

storage proteins and lectins

Plants also synthesize a wide range of non-protein amino acids found nowhere in animal biochemistry, and it is often these unusual ones that carry the most distinctive pharmacology.

Pharmacological Importance

Several free amino acids are directly active rather than merely nutritional. L-theanine is calming and cognition-supporting; GABA is the body's principal inhibitory neurotransmitter; 5-HTP is the immediate precursor to serotonin; and L-DOPA is the precursor to dopamine.

This precursor role is what makes the group pharmacologically interesting: several of these molecules are one metabolic step away from a major neurotransmitter, which is why so many are taken as isolated supplements.

Toxicity & Safety

The familiar protein amino acids are among the gentlest constituents in the materia medica, tending towards nourishing and settling effects.

The exceptions come from two directions. A small number of non-protein amino acids are genuinely toxic, such as the hypoglycin of unripe ackee and the neurotoxic β-ODAP of grass pea. Separately, a handful of plant proteins — the ribosome-inactivating proteins and certain toxic lectins, found in plants such as elder and dwarf elder — can cause serious poisoning by disrupting protein synthesis.

Constituents

All Amino Acids & Proteins

125 total Filter amino acids & proteins

4-Hydroxyisoleucine 1 herb 5-Aminolevulinic acid 5-Hydroxytryptophan 1 herb · 1 supp

acetyl-l-carnitine 1 supp Acetylcysteine Adenoregulin Agglutinins 1 herb Albuminoids 1 herb Allenic norleucine 1 herb Alpha-alanine 1 herb Alpha-amanitin 2 herbs Alpha-momorcharin 1 herb Amanin Amaninamide Amatoxin Amino acids 1 herb Amphomycin Angiotensin amide Anthranilic acid Asparagine 3 herbs

beta-alanine 1 supp Beta-amanitin 2 herbs Beta-momorcharin 1 herb Betaine 4 herbs · 1 supp

Open in filterable index

Source Plants

Herbs Containing Amino Acids & Proteins

28 herbs

Plants in the materia medica documented to carry amino acids & proteins, with the compounds each one is listed for. The bar counts how many DISTINCT amino acids & proteins are on record for a plant, relative to the best-documented — it measures breadth of record, not potency, so a plant with one well-studied compound can outrank a richer source that has simply been analysed less. No concentration figures are on record for this class yet, so nothing here distinguishes a major source from a trace.