Micheal I do believe you've hit the protein on the amino acid (if you'll forgive the bad pun), yes I do know about Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Urasil (sp) notice I didn't say Thymine since well that's DNA..
Yes many do it for the "I'm bigger than you" but it's all about the science in the end, the more power gets thrown at it the quicker we get to prove / disprove the theory behind the project or prove / disprove that particular drug / protein.