tryptophan

See also: Tryptophan

English

Etymology

From German Tryptophan (“tryptic”) + Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō, “to appear”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪptə(ʊ)fan/

Noun

tryptophan (countable and uncountable, plural tryptophans)

1. (biochemistry) An essential amino acid having an indole side chain; it is present in many foods, especially chocolate, oats, bananas and milk; it is essential for normal growth and development and is the precursor of serotonin and niacin; any specific form of this compound, or any derivative of it.
   • 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial 2004, p. 169:

     The quickest way to raise serotonin levels again is to send more tryptophan into the brain, because serotonin is made from tryptophan.

Synonyms

• Trp
• tryp

Derived terms

• hydroxytryptophan
• methyltryptophan
• tryptophanamide
• tryptophanase
• tryptophanate
• tryptophan synthase
• tryptophan synthetase
• tryptophanyl
• tryptophanylation

 

Translations

essential amino acid

• Catalan: triptòfan m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 色氨酸 (zh) (sèānsuān)

• Czech: tryptofan m
• Finnish: tryptofaani
• French: tryptophane (fr) m
• Galician: triptofano m
• German: Tryptophan (de) n
• Greek: θρυπτοφάνη f (thryptofáni)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: triptofán (hu)
• Japanese: トリプトファン (toriputofan)
• Persian: تریپتوفان (teriptofân)
• Polish: tryptofan m
• Portuguese: triptofano m
• Romanian: triptofan (ro) m
• Russian: триптофа́н (ru) m (triptofán)
• Spanish: triptófano m
• Swedish: tryptofan (sv)