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Leucine
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A metabolic pathway diagram for Escherichia coli showing how various nutrients-including sugars, fats, glycerol, and amino acids-are broken down into intermediates like pyruvate and acetyl-CoA, leading to the production of energy and other metabolites such as lactate, glutamate, and succinate. Arrows indicate the flow of metabolites between compounds, with key nutrient sources and products highlighted in colored boxes.
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Amino acid
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Leucine

amino acid
Also known as: L-leucine
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Leucine, an amino acid obtainable by the hydrolysis of most common proteins. Among the first of the amino acids to be discovered (1819), in muscle fibre and wool, it is present in large proportions (about 15 percent) in hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying pigment of red blood cells) and is one of several so-called essential amino acids for rats, fowl, and humans; i.e., they cannot synthesize it and require dietary sources. In plants and microorganisms it is synthesized from pyruvic acid (a product of the breakdown of carbohydrates). The chemical structure of leucine isleucine, chemical compound

This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.