Glutamate: an amino acid of particular distinction.

In this introductory paper to the symposium, we consider why L-glutamate (GLU) is such an abundant biomolecule. We begin with a brief discussion of the prebiotic dawn of events and some evolutionary features of GLU in the biological and metabolic world. The properties of GLU are then examined with reference to its overall structural motif and to the reactivity of the molecule at the tautomeric 2 carbon and at the 4- and 5-C positions. This chemical viewpoint reveals that the GLU molecule offers a number of features/properties not shared by its homologs (amino adipic and aspartic acids). These properties make GLU a favorable choice for facilitating its involvement in multiple metabolic processes that play major roles in the nitrogen economy of the host, as well as serving as a nutrient, an energy-yielding substrate, a structural determinant and an excitatory molecule.