Why does an organism need lysine?

Question

In the book and movie “Jurassic Park”, the dinosaurs were engineered so that they could not make lysine. This, theoretically, meant that any animals that got loose from the park would not get their daily lysine pills and die.
a. Why does an organism need lysine?
b. You can’t make lysine either. How can you and the dinosaurs live without daily lysine pills?

Answer 1

proteins are made of amino acids bonded together. There are 20 amino acids that the body uses to make proteins. The body can synthesize most amino acids except for a handful that are essential amino acids, meaning the body must get them from the food we eat. The food must be a protein. The body will digest the protein into the amino acids that form the protein and use the essential amino acids to make the proteins it needs. Lysine is one the essential amino acids.