Amino Acids

So I haven't posted here in almost a year. That is what exams do haha.
Just to catch up, I'm now at Portsmouth university studying Biochemistry and loving it. Maybe loving the lifestyle more than the course right now but still...

Last year I posted a quick pic that showed that there is an amino acid called amber! At the time I didn't understand it and didn't push it but today I've discovered it! It's really not all that groundbreaking, it's just randomly in a power point slide from one of the lectures I accidently didn't get to...

There are two very rare tRNA encoded amino acids. One of these is called amber, the other is called opal.

This is Selenocysteine, otherwise known as opal and is coded for by UGA.

This is Pyrrolysine, otherwise known as amber and is coded for by UAG.

Both UAG and UGA are usually stop codons.

This is all I know about it as at the moment it's not massively important for me to know any more in depth. And right now I'm studying for a cell biology exam so best not get sidetracked by other topics and interesting things! Hopefully soon I'll post something I learnt about in a really interesting perspectives in biochemistry lecture.