nutrient
Asparagine
A non-essential amino acid with a nitrogen-bearing side chain.
Educational draft · Human scientific and editorial review pending. About review status
Asparagine is used in proteins and can participate in cellular nitrogen handling.
How it works
A polar side chain in proteins
The amide side chain can form hydrogen bonds with water and neighbouring parts of a folded protein, helping give proteins their three-dimensional shape.
Related topics
Asparagine is used to build Protein
Asparagine is one of the amino acids used to assemble proteins.
Evidence: Established · Source checked 2026-09-05 · Sources: NIH National Library of Medicine: Biochemistry, Essential Amino Acids
Worth knowing
It is one of the 20 protein amino acids. Asparagine is one of the standard amino acids used in human protein synthesis.
It is made from aspartate. Asparagine synthetase forms asparagine from aspartate using glutamine as a nitrogen donor.
A closer look
The body can make it
Asparagine is classified as non-essential because human cells can synthesise it when ordinary metabolic needs are met.
References
Source-checked local draft.
Human editorial review pending.
- NIH National Library of Medicine (opens in new tab)Biochemistry, Essential Amino AcidsChecked 2026-09-05
- NIH National Library of Medicine (opens in new tab)Biochemistry, Protein CatabolismChecked 2026-09-05
- NIH National Library of Medicine (opens in new tab)Biochemistry, Primary Protein StructureChecked 2026-09-05
- NIH National Library of Medicine (opens in new tab)Biochemistry, Collagen SynthesisChecked 2026-09-05