GENE 500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Conformational Change, Covalent Bond, Proline
24 views2 pages
Lecture 1 - Protein Structure
These functions summarize the main functions of the
proteins → Proteins develop many of these diverse
functions through exploiting a few simple activities: Most
fundamentally, proteins bind—to one another, to other
macromolecules such as DNA, and to small molecules
and ions. In many cases, such binding induces a
conformational change (a change in the three-
dimensional structure) in the protein and thus influences
its activity. Linear chains of amino acid building blocks
are arranged in a three-dimensional structural hierarchy.
Protein Hierarchy
A key concept in understanding how proteins work is that function is often derived from three-
dimensional structure, and three-dimensional structure is determined by both a protein’s
amino acid sequence and intramolecular noncovalent interactions.
Primary Structure – individual amino acids are linked together in linear, unbranched chains by
covalent amide bonds, called peptide bonds → form via reactions that result in a loss of water
(dehydration)