Introduction MORE
Proteins are nitrogenous organic macromolecules constructed from a base sequence of 20 amino acids at the ribosome in cells. There are over 100,000 different proteins encoded by thousands of different genes within the human body. They all perform different functions e.g. antibodies providing immunity and enzymes catalysing metabolic reactions. The determination of which protein is made stems from the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA molecule. These are translated into RNA containing codons that each correspond to one amino acid; there are 61/4. A mutation in this sequence of nucleotides will result in a different codon and therefore will change the structure of the protein made. This is important as it could change the functionality of the protein or produce an entire non-functioning protein. The functionality of the active protein stems from its tertiary structure; one of four (sometimes five) hierarchal levels. These are primary, secondary, tertiary, supersecondary and quaternary. This essay will …show more content…
It describes the activity of hydrophobic side chains being buried into hydrophobic cavities of the amphiphilic protein making it more thermodynamically stable. helices and sheets are amphipathic and are configured such that hydrophobic residues point towards the interior of the protein and polar residues protrude out, consequently minimising the number of hydrogen bonds between non polar sidechains and water on the surface of the protein. This releases water molecules from the cages they form around the side chains resulting in the entropy of the system increasing. Thus, G is negative and protein folding is a spontaneous