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Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula HOOC−CH(−NH2)−CH2−SH. The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. Cysteine is chiral, only L-cysteine is found in nature.
The thiol is susceptible to oxidation to give the disulfide derivative cystine, which serves an important structural role in many proteins. In this case, the symbol Cyx is sometimes used. The deprotonated form can generally be described by the symbol Cym as well.
When used as a food additive, cysteine has the E number E920.
Cysteine is encoded by the codons UGU and UGC.