– Amino Acid Match Game - Athletic Design
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Match amino acids by their name and molecular structure!

There are two game variants: Puzzle & Timed.

Puzzle

This is more a playground for study than an actual game. You are given a skill score but the focus should really be on playing around and learning by trial and error. However, you should be able to achieve a skill score of at least 80% before you try the Timed-variant.

Timed

You have 60 seconds to match as many amino acids as possible. Match all before time runs out to earn a time bonus. Additional points can also be gained by matching an amino acid of the current bonus category.
(Unfortunately the leaderboard is not working anymore and we won’t have time to fix it until we have ported the game to Html5.)

Visual how-to-play tutorials are shown inside the game!


The Amino Acid Step By Step game has unfortunately remained in Work-In-Progress status for a long. In the meantime this crash course serves as a compliment.

20 different side-chains

An amino acid (AA) is a small molecules that contains an amino group at one end, a carboxylic acid at the other end, and a short side-chain of “other stuff” in the middle. There are 20 different AAs in humans (and other life forms) and they differ only in their side-chains.

Long polypeptide chain

The basic amino group of one AA can make a so called peptide bond to the carboxylic acid of another AA. In that way a long chain of AAs is formed. Such a chain is called a polypeptide chain.

The polypeptide chain is folded by forces of the side-chains

The different chemical groups of the side chains-determine their electric properties (eg. non-polar, polar, charged), which determine how they attract or repel other side-chains. Such forces will fold the long polypeptide chain..

The folding determine the function of enzymes

When one (or several) really long chain have folded to form a big and compact 3d-structure, we call that structure a protein. Most proteins are enzymes, which regulate all chemical processes in our bodies. An enzyme's function is determined by its form, which in turn is determined by the number and order of the AAs it contains. (To continue the casual chain, the number and order of the AAs are coded by a gene!)

Neurotransmitters

Some AAs play important roles in the body all alone (i.e. without being a part of a protein). For example, by transmitting signals between nerve cells.

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