Protein Structures and Function
D f
peyote In
youhavetensofthousands
ofproteinsthathavediverse
jobsproteinsaretheworkerbees
ofyourbodytheytakepart
innearlyeveryactivityofanorganismproteinspeayaweein whendescribingthestructureofproteinsbiologiststhinkabout4distinct
structuralsupportcartilagetransporthemoglobinhormones eerersofproteinstructure use4ewesareknownasprimarysecondary
linemenimmunity1yourantibodiesmovementLmuscleproteins tertiaryandquaternary
andasenzymesthatkeepthousandsofdifferentchemical
reactionsrunninginsideauaus
theshapeorstructureofaproteinisthekeytounderstanding
howitworksjustasshapeisimportanttoatoolsfunction theprimarylevelofproteinstructureissimplythelinear
thesameistrueforproteinsEachofthethousandsofdifferent sequence
ofaminoacidsthatarestrungtogethertomakeone
kindsofproteinsinyourbodyhasitsownuniqueshape proteinchaineveryproteinhasauniqueaminoacidsequence
ahugevaryingofproteinscanbeconstructed
fromsodifferent
acommoncarbonbackboneisfoundinanaminoacidsthiscommon aminoacidsaminoacidshavecementpropertiestheproperties
backbonepermitsaminoacidstobelinkedtogetherineongchainsthechain ofanindividualaminoacideayinitssidechainmatbranches
ofaminoacidsfoldsandtwiststoformacomplexthreedimensional offofthecarbonbackbone thesidechaincanalsobecaked
shapetheserapeeventuallytakenbyachainofaminoacidsisdirectis the Egrouponradicalgroup
tiedtothesidegroupsthatpotrudefromtheaminoacidchain
ifoneaminoacidisoutoforderitcanmaketheentireproteinnonfunctioninghoweversomeamino
acidscanbesubstituted
forotherswoalteringthefunctionofaproteinIforexample ifyouchange
onewordinthewordship itcanproduce adifferentwdifferentmeinings iftheaminoacid
sequenceischangedmostchangesresultindetectiveproteinsbutsomedonot
theprimarystructureofaproteinissimplythelistof
aminoacidsintheirproperorderifyoulookat
manyproteinsyouwinsimilaritynoticecertaincommon
structuralelements analphahelixandabeta
sheet analphahelixis aregionofaprotein
thatistwistedintoa tightspiralthecoilsof
thehelixareheldtogether
byhydrogenbondsbetween
nearbyaminoacidsotherregionsofaprotein
folduplikeapaperfantenstypeofstructureis
referredtoas abetasheet ealphahelicesand
thebetasheetstogethercomprisethesecondary
structureofaprotein