🎉 Did you know? 🎉 Your body uses a string of 20 unique beads, called amino acids, to craft the protein structures you need to function! It's like using LEGO blocks to build a grand castle.

• Amino Acids: 20 unique types used by ribosomes to build polypeptides (protein chains).
• Source
  • Plants: Make all 20 using photosynthesis. 🌿
  • Animals (like us!): Gobble them up from food. 🍔

• Essential Amino Acids: The ones we must get from food because our bodies can't make enough.
• Non-Essential Amino Acids: Relax! Our body can craft these using metabolic magic that transforms one amino acid into another.
• Fun fact: 9 out of 20 are essential for us humans!

Real World Example: Think of essential amino acids as ingredients for a special cake (our body). Even if we have a kitchen (metabolism) to bake, we can't make the cake without specific ingredients that we might not have at home. So, we need to go shopping (eat)!

• Circumstances can change the game. Some amino acids can switch from being non-essential to essential.
• For Instance
  • Phenylalanine: Essential, our body is like, "Nah, can't make this."
  • Tyrosine: Non-essential, because it's like a crafty DIY project made from phenylalanine.