Glycine

Glycine (symbol Gly or G; /ˈɡlaɪsiːn/) is an amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain. It is the simplest amino acid, with the chemical formula NH2‐CH2‐COOH. Glycine is one of the proteinogenic amino acids. It is encoded by all the codons starting with GG (GGU, GGC, GGA, GGG). Glycine is also known as a "helix breaker", due to its ability to act as a hinge in the secondary structure of proteins. Glycine is a colorless, sweet-tasting crystalline solid. It is the only achiral proteinogenic amino acid. It can fit into hydrophilic or hydrophobic environments, due to its minimal side chain of only one hydrogen atom. The acyl radical is glycyl.