3-(4-Pyridyl)-D-alanine is a derivative of alanine (A480995) which is an amino acid that is commonly found in bacteria, such as Streptococcus faecalis. Alanine is essential for the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan crosslinking sub-units that are used for bacterial cell walls. D-Alanine is also known to cause cytotoxic oxidative stress in brain tumour cells.
