The Isoleucine flag uses the colours pink, white, and black. The black square field indicates there are neither Nitrogens nor Oxygens in the R-Group, only Carbon (Hydrogens are ignored). The order of the dots also reflects the structure. The lowest dot represents the connection point to the COCON root. The two dots along the fly indicate the two carbon stem, while the dot next to pink stripe represents the short, one carbon stem.
The white and pink stripe reflect the letter I. Reason being I is the 9th letter in the alphabet and the number 9 is represented by the colour pink in colour metrics.
Isoleucine was discovered in Germany in the year 1903 by Felix Ehrlich. Perhaps the most famous disease linked to amino acid I is Maple Syrup Urine Disease. Although the name may sound funny, the consequences are deadly if not treated properly. As the name implies, MSUD, is when ones urine smells like maple syrup.
The Histidine flag uses the colours black, white, and blue. The square blue field indicates it has Nitrogen in its R-Group (2 Nitrogens to be exact). The four white dots indicate that there are 4 carbons in the R-Group. Since carbons are the 'most important' atom in living system, they get chief representation in dots in Amino Acid Dice Symbols. The vertical white and black stripe along the hoist represent the letter H. The letter H is represented by white and black stripe, because H is the 8th letter of the alphabet and 8 is represented by black in colour metrics. The four white carbon dots in the corner also indicate that this amino acid has a ring structure, thus making aromatic whereby electrons are shared in dreidel like fashion.
Histidine was first discovered in Germany in 1896 by two doctors: Albrecht Kossel and Sven Gustaf Hedin. The three letter abbreviation is His, but for gender equity sake you can also use Her. H is often used as 'proton shuttle' which means its like a UPS delivery relay runner for protons.
Histamine is the most famous cousin of Histidine, a slightly modified version of the amino acid Her. After all a female UPS driver can work just as hard and fast a male UPS driver, and without the obsessive need to check sports scores.
The Glycine flag uses the colours white and purple. The larger white square field towards the fly indicates that there are no carbons in the R-Group. In fact only a single hydrogen atom makes up the R-Group. Essentially it is a single amino acid stem COCON with a hydrogen attached to it, make it the Solo Hydro Amino Acid. Amino Acid flag usually dice like pattern in the field but Glycine is blank. If you ever played with a chemistry model kit, hydogens are usually coloured white, thus a blank white field. Likewise white light from the Sun is formed from the fusion of hydrogen into heavier elements.
The purple vertical stripe indicates the letter G, which is the single letter symbol for this amino acid. Why is purple associated with G? Because the seventh colour of the rainbow is purple and the letter G is the seventh letter of the alphabet.
Glycine was discovered in France in the year 1820 by Henri Baconnot. Braconnot was one of the early pioneers who was able to turn wood, cotton, and straw into table sugar. He also discovered that fungi contian chitin.
The Phenylalanine flag uses the colours blue, white, and black. The field has seven white dots to represent the seven carbons on the R-Group. Usually this amino acid is listed as having nine carbons, but the two carbons on the CONCO stem, since they are all the same. The black field indicates that there is no Nitrogen nor Oxygen in the R-Group. Along the fly are white and blue vertical stripes. These stripes indicate the letter F, because the single letter notation for this amino acid is officially F. The letter F is coded to white and blue, since F is the 6th letter of the alphabet and dark blue (indigo) is the sixth colour of the rainbow. White is coded to zero, so the vertical stripes read 06, which traces it to sixth letter, F—the one letter symbol for Phenylalanine. Amino Acid F also has a three letter abbreviation Phe. Since all four corners of the field have a dot, this indicates that it has ring structure.
Phe was discovered in 1879 by Ernst Schulez who was born in Saxony, Germany. When Schulez was in Switzerland's Zürich, his team discovered Phenylalanine. Also note the name resembles the amino acid Alanine. Thus Phenyl-Alanine is simply single Alanine with a Phenyl group attached to it; they could have called it Alaphenyline. You can think of the central dot on the field being the lone Alanine carbon, while the 'six' of dots represents the aromatic ringlike Phenyl part.
Phenylalanine may have made its most famous footnote the public mind during high school biology, if you studied inherited rare genetic diseases. The genetic disorder associated with Phenylalanine is known as PKU. Perhaps the most famous person associated with this order is Pearl S. Buck. Pearl had a daughter who suffered from this affliction. Basically persons with PKU have an inability to process this amino acid. After a while it builds up in their system and leads to mental retardation. Then in 1934 a Norwegian physician Ivar Asbjørn Følling came to understand this disease. Finally in 1954, Horst Bickel, Evelyn Hickmans and John Gerrard discovered how to treat this disorder with a special diet that did not include Phenylalanine, which lead to recovery and allowed persons born with this inherited genetic disease to stay mentally healthy. About 30,000 people in the USA have PKU, which means they have a limited diet. The hard part is, during childhood and adolescence, PKU persons get picked on for not being able to eat 'normal' food. Most people are aware of people who shouldn't eat Gluten, but PKU people have a more restrictive diet and the consequences for eating standard food is debilitating. Basically PKU people are Obligate Vegans or Natural Herbivores.
The Glutamic Acid Flag uses the colours white, cyan, and red. The red field indicates the presence of oxygen in the R-Group. The three white dots represent the three carbons of the R-Group. Finally the vertical white and cyan stripe indicate the letter E, which is the single abbreviation for this amino acid.
Since E is the 5th letter and cyan (sky blue or blue) is the 5th colour of the rainbow, it is utilized as a colour metric indicator.
This amino acid was discovered in1866, by the German chemist Karl Heinrich Ritthausen. On a more familiar note, most people are familiar with the flavor of this amino acid when you eat Chinese food. Glutamic Acid forms a salt what give food its certain 'Chinese' flavor, which is known as 'unmami.'
Perhaps if the didn't call it MSG it would be less scary. People eat with the eyes as they do with their ears. People don't like eating pig, but eating pork sound better. Since MSG has sodium, it is a special king of salt. So a better name for MSG would be sun-salt, since it was discovered in Japan after all.
The flag for the Asp uses the colours white, green, and red. The field is red since oxygen is the dominant non-carbon element associated with Aspartic Acid.
If you ever played with a chemistry model set, Oxygen is usually coloured red, as it is in most diagrams. The reason being is that oxygen rich blood carries a lot of oxygen. Thus red has been chosen to represent oxygen. There are two white dots that represents the two carbons in the R-Group.
Along the hoist are two vertical stripes of white and green, which are coded to the letter D. The single letter abbreviation for Apartic Acid is D, while the three letter abbreviation is Asp. D is represented by the colour green since green and D are the fourth value of their respective orders. Green is the 4th colour of the rainbow and D is the fourth letter in the alphabet. The white stripe is a zero indicator to show that this is indeed letter, since letters in colour metrics are represented by two colours, which read as 04.
The flag for Cystine uses the colours white, yellow, mustard-yellow, and black. The field of mustard yellow indicates that this amino acid contains sulfur. The single black dot indicates there is only one carbon in its functional group. Along the hoist is a white and yellow vertical stripe.
This stripes are coded to the letter C according to colour metrics. Reason being, yellow is the third colour of the rainbow and C is the third letter of the alphabet. Also C is the short, short hand notation for Cystine. The three letter abbreviation is Cys.
You can blame this amino acid for the rotten egg smell and the stinky smell at perms. When hair is being permed, the process breaks down the sulfur in ones hair. The result is that poopey smell that you may have noticed at the hair dresser. Sure, they try to mask it with sweet perfumes, but you can't hide that eggy smell when these amino acids are broken down.
