sulfur-containing amino acid obtained by the hydrolysis of most common proteins. First isolated from casein (1922), methionine accounts for about 5 percent of the weight of egg albumin; other proteins contain much smaller amounts of methionine. It is one of several so-called essential amino acids for mammals and fowl; i.e., they cannot synthesize it. In microorganisms it is synthesized from the amino acids cysteine and aspartic acid.

Methionine is important in methylation (the process by which methyl, or -CH₃, groups are added to compounds) and is also a precursor of two other amino acids, cystine and cysteine.