Methionine

Methionine (Met or M) is an amino acid present in proteins.

Structure of methionine

Like all of the amino acids, methionine has two functional groups, an amine group (NH₂) and a carboxyl group (COOH). It has a relatively long side chain: CH₂-CH₂-S-CH₃. and is a non-polar amino acid.

Function of methionine

Methionine is an essential amino acid which is obtained from the diet (seeds, meat, fish).

It is a specific amino acid in that it is the first one to be incorporated into protein chains by the ribosome. Methionine is only coded for by a single codon (AUG, in the universal gene code) on the messenger RNA,