Seen on the other place.
I have been mystified why K represented Lysine for many years. Undergrad #biochemistry lecturer said “I don't know why, but I assume it is because of the end of the side chain looks like a K”. Well, turns out the answer is more simple.
Source: M Eugenio Vazquez. Posted in honour of Margaret Dayhoff, inventor of the single-letter amino acid code
@steveroyle oooh, just in time for me to share this with my biochem students before their amino acid quiz on Monday!
As an undergrad myself, I came up with phonetic for Phe and Trp (tWip-tophan) and Asp (aspar-Dic acid). Arg is the pirate amino acid (Arrrrr-ginine)! Asn is basically Asp with added N (the Q for Gln is just a WTF). The side chain for Val is a V, but unfortunately the L shape goes to Ile rather than Leu. I’m not seeing a K shape for Lys though…
@prophetkristy I like those! Yeah, I must say the K shape explanation was very tenuous.