A non-essential amino acid found in proteins and many plants, especially asparagus; one of the 20 standard amino acids used by living cells.
From 'asparagus' + '-ine' (chemical suffix for compounds). The '-ine' and '-in' suffixes were both used historically, with 'asparagine' becoming the standardized modern chemical name.
Asparagine is why some children with leukemia receive the drug L-asparaginase—cancer cells can't make their own asparagine, so starving them of it slows their growth. It's a clever biochemical weapon born from understanding an amino acid first found in vegetables.
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