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Question

What is the x 21 standard?

Answer

Following is a table listing the one letter symbols, the three-letter symbols, and the chemical properties of the side chains of the standard amino acids. The masses listed are based on weighted averages of the elemental isotopes at their natural abundances. Note that forming a peptide bond results in elimination of a molecule of water, so the mass of an amino acid unit within a protein chain is reduced by 18.02 Da. The one-letter symbol for an undetermined amino acid is X. The three-letter symbol Asx or one-letter symbol B means the amino acid is either asparagine or aspartic acid; Glx or Z means either glutamic acid or glutamine; and Xle or J means either leucine or isoleucine. The three-letter symbol Sec or one-letter symbol U refers to selenocysteine. The three-letter symbol Orn or one-letter symbol O refers to ornithine.

— Source: Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)