D-aminoácidos em biologia: mais do que se julga D-amino acids in biology: more than one thinks

Abstract

It is still frequently referred, even in reference text-books, that the D-enantiomers of amino acids are not present in living organisms, which is not right. In the present revision/informative paper we describe a large number of D-amino acids that are present in all forms of organisms, from bacteria to human beings, in the free state, in peptides and in proteins, and give a short overview of their characteristics, physiological interaction and roles.

Keywords

• neuropeptides
• neuromodulators
• toxines