ENVS 532

Dr Assad Al-Thukair
Associate Professor
Protein
Proteins:

One of the most important molecules in biology

- enzymes for metabolism
- certain hormones
- antibody (defense system)
- transporters and receptors
ex. Hemoglobin (O2 and CO2 transport)
 Proteins

Definition: Organic compound composed of the one of more chains of amino acids.

Amino acid (AA)= small organic compound with an amino and carboxylic groups
* AAs= 20 in total
= They all differ by R structure

The simplest: R= H, then AA= glycine (gly)

R= methyl (CH3), then AA= alanine (Ala)
List in appendix V (Book)

* 20 AA in proteins
= of which 9 are essential [ we need them from food]
[phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, isoleucine, methionine,
leucine, lysine, histidine]

= the rest non-essential (can be made by human body)

[arginine, cysteine, glycine, glutamine, histidine, proline, serine ,
glutamate, aspartate, Asparagine, alanine ].
Proteins = chains (1 or more) the AAs
* oligopeptide (small number of AA, less than 10)
* polypeptide (more than 10 AA)

Chain AAs = from peptide bond or amide bond

from (AA)2 to (AA)n

dipeptide The same process continues polypeptide
* Polypeptide chain….

http://biologynow.brookscole.com/student/ch03/peptide_bonding.htm
l
Electro-positive

Formation of H bond
within the same chain
some will be stronger depending of R

Level of protein structure

Electro-negative
Level of proteins structure

1. Primary structure= linear chain

2. Secondary structure:
helical coil
beta sheet

3. Tertiary structure: all secondary structures in a polypeptide

4. Quaternary structure: all polypeptide together to form proteins

Just one wrong amino acid can effect protein structure and function (Sickle cell anemia)
 Nucleotides, DNA, and RNA
• Nucleotides: Small organic compound function as energy carriers,
enzymes helper (co-enzyme), messengers (RNA). Some are building blocks
for RNA & DNA. They are central to metabolism, survival, and
reproduction.
DNA or RNA: polymers forms of nucleotides
Nucleotides= base (with nitrogen), ribose (RNA) or deoxyribose (DNA) and phosphate

Bases:
DNA= Adenine (A), guanine (G),
thymine (T), Cytosine ( C)

RNA= (T )is replaced by Uracil (U)

Sugar=Ribose

Ribose Deoxy-ribose
(in RNA) (in DNA)
Phosphate (P) P-P P-P-P
Mono-P Di-P Tri-P
 RNA: Single
linear strand
of nucleotide
U, C, G,A
P A
P G
P U
P C
P A

DNA: Double
strand ( helix)
of nucleotide.
G-----C
A------T
*DNA and the mystery of life and heredity

** The code of life is in DNA

A G T C A protein
A G U C A
T C A G T
DNA=coded information RNA(messenger) Secret known
(secret) decoding process
translation
transcription
ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate
Three phosphate group –Sugar- Base

Function
1-Metabolic activity through transferring phosphate.
2-Storage and source of energy .