Structures of Proteins Essay

Different types of bonds/interactions in proteins lead to different kinds of structures. Three of the most commonly known chemical bonds in proteins include the hydrogen bond, the covalent bond, and the ionic bond. In hydrogen bonds, hydrogen interacts with oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine to form either the alpha helix, or the beta sheet, which in turn determines its secondary, tertiary, or quaternary structure. Another type of bonds, the covalent bond, links amino acids together by sharing electrons;

Proteins are polymers made by joining up small molecules called amino acids. Amino acids and proteins are made mainly of the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

The functional groups are called aminos and carboxyls. The linkage type is by using a peptide bond. The primary function of protein is build and repairs the body.

Proteins are the metabolic workhorses of the cell; they engage in a variety of essential activities ranging from enzymatically catabolizing macromolecular food sources to serving as structural components that maintain cell stability. Maximizing protein function relies on intricate non-covalent interactions occurring on the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary levels that help determine the overall shape of the protein. In their native states, proteins will assume the most energetically favorable configuration. Occasionally however, cells are exposed to exogenous disruptions such as heat stress. Heat Stress can compromise protein three-dimensional structure. Hydrophobic residues tend to be buried in the interior of the protein but when

3. Explain why the structure of a protein is important to how the protein functions. It’s important because it can make many complex shape and each shapes can have different functions.

The chaperones have the main role of ensuring proper folding. When a chaperone protein becomes toxic, major changes in the conformation occur as the alpha helix becomes beta pleated sheets. The sheets now expose the hydrophobic amino acid and aggregation, or clumping together of sheets occurs (Borges, 2014).

A protein has multiple existing structures, these are the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures which occur progressively. A protein is essentially a sequence of amino acids which are bonded adjacently, and interact with one another in various ways depending on the R group that the amino acid contains. There are 20 different amino acids which are able to be arranged in any given order, thus giving rise to a potential 2.433x1018 (4.s.f) different combinations, and therefore interactions between the various amino acids.

Proteins are complex structures made up of chains of amino acids. Each protein has a different function such as enzymes to catalyze reactions or protein hormones to trigger certain functions of a cell. First let’s start with the most basic component of a protein: an amino acid. An amino acid is made up of a central carbon atom attached to a hydrogen atom, a carboxyl group, an amino group, and an R group which varies

They are made up of amino acids (consists of amino group, carboxyl group, hydrogen atom, and R group). Polypeptide bonds form between amino acids to form polypeptide chains. Amino acid sequence is primary protein structure. The secondary structure is the bonding pattern of the amino acids (e.g. helix, sheet, etc.). The tertiary structure consists of the domain, where the sheets or helixes fold on each other and become stable. The quaternary structure consists of several polypeptide chains that form advanced proteins such as human leukocyte

The basic building blocks of proteins are amino acids, the biuret reaction tests for protein. A solution of sodium hydroxide is added to a sample then a few drops of copper sulphate solution, if positive – the solution will turn mauve. There are 20 different amino acids and they can be joined in any order. Therefore there can be many different functions. A protein consists of one or more polypeptide chains (a polypeptide chain being multiple amino acids joined together via condensation, producing a peptide bond). Different proteins have different shapes as the shapes are determined by the sequence of amino acids.

Proteins are made of amino acids, which are compounds built around a central carbon atom. Amino acids then join together through dehydration reactions. These are called peptide bonds. Many amino acids joined together are called polypeptides. A polypeptide becomes a protein when it folds into a three dimensional structure. This is the primary structure of a protein. The next structure in the hierarchy is the secondary structure. Secondary structures can either form alpha helixes, where an amino acid sequence forces the polypeptide to twist into a helical shape; or beta sheets, where an amino acid sequence forces the polypeptide into a zigzag shape. In the tertiary structure, the polypeptide folds several times on itself to form a more complex three dimensional shape. A quaternary structure is when two tertiary structures interact with each other. This is when a protein becomes a functional

B. Original diagram of the different levels of protein structure (i.e., primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary).

Introduction: The goal of this experiment was to practice using the FirstGlance in Jmol molecular visualization to examine key structural features of proteins. This work is important because protein structure can be related to function, multiple-sequence alignments and evolutionary preservation, and designing drug. FirstGlance in Jmol makes it fairly easy to perceive structure-function relationships in the protein you chose. Using FirstGlance, it is easy to visualize and distinguish chains, and disulfide bonds are obvious. Alpha helices and beta strands are evident due to the "cartoon" secondary structural schematic.

Bettelheim, Brown, Campbell and Farrell assert that polypeptide chains do not extend in straight lines but rather they fold in various ways and give rise to a large number of three-dimensional structures (594). This folding or conformation of amino acids in the localized regions of the polypeptide chains defines the secondary structure of proteins. The main force responsible for the secondary structure is the non-covalent

These new formations are held together by hydrogen bonds. The third level is the tertiary structure. The tertiary structure of a protein is a contorted secondary structure being twisted and folded all out of shape to form a 3-d complex. The type of bonding that holds these formations together are weak interactions such as hydrophilic, hydrophobic, ionic, and hydrogen bonds. These bonds are individually weak, but collectively strong. The forth level, which completes a protein, is quaternary structure, which occurs when two or more tertiary structures are joined together by polypeptide bonds.