What you’ll learn to do: Describe the structure and function proteins

Proteins are polymers of amino acids. Each amino acid contains a central carbon, a hydrogen, a carboxyl group, an amino group, and a variable R group. The R group specifies which class of amino acids it belongs to: electrically charged hydrophilic side chains, polar but uncharged side chains, nonpolar hydrophobic side chains, and special cases.

Proteins have different “layers” of structure: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary.

Proteins have a variety of function in cells. Major functions include acting as enzymes, receptors, transport molecules, regulatory proteins for gene expression, and so on. Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up a chemical reaction without being permanently altered. They have “active sites” where the substrate/reactant binds, and they can be either activated or inhibited (competitive and/or noncompetitive inhibitors).