Abbreviations for  Amino Acids and Nucleic Acids

These abbreviations for nucleic acids and amino acids can be used when searching most molecular databases.
 

Amino Acids
 

Amino Acid	Designations
	3  letter	1  1etter
Alanine	ala	A
Arginine	arg	R
Asparagine	asn	N
Aspartic Acid	asp	D
Cysteine	Cys	C
Glutamic Acid	Glu	E
Glutamine	Gln	Q
Glycine	Gly	G
Histidine	His	H
Isoleucine	Ile	I
Leucine	Leu	L
Lysine	Lys	K
Methionine	Met	M
Phenylalanine	Phe	F
Proline	Pro	P
Serine	Ser	S
Threonine	Thr	T
Tryptophan	Trp	W
Tyrosine	Tyr	Y
Valine	Val	V
any amino acid		Z

 
 

Nucleic Acids (DNA and RNA)
 

IUB	Meaning
A	Adenosine
C	Cytidine
G	Guanine
T	Thymidine
U	Uridine
R	G or A (either purine)
Y	A or T (either pyrimidine)
K	G or T (Keto)
M	A or C (Amino)
S	G or C (Strong)
W	A or T (Weak)
B	C G or T
D	A G or T
H	A C or T
V	A C or G
N	A C G or T (any nucleotide)

 
 
 

Author: Andrew Louka
Modified by:  William Barnes