BiologyCode 9700
Proteins
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- describe and draw the general structure that every amino acid shares, and how a peptide bond is formed and broken
- explain what is meant by the terms primary structure, secondary structure, tertiary structure and quaternary structure as applied to proteins
- describe the kinds of interaction that keep a protein molecule in its shape, namely ionic bonding, hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions and covalent bonding, including disulfide bonds
- state that, in general, globular proteins are soluble with physiological roles, while fibrous proteins are insoluble with structural roles
- describe how a haemoglobin molecule is built, taking it as one example of a globular protein, including how its quaternary structure is put together from a haem group, two beta (β) chains (β–globin) and two alpha (α) chains (α–globin)
- relate what haemoglobin does to the way it is built, including why the iron in the haem group matters
- describe how a collagen molecule is built, collagen being one example of a fibrous protein, and how collagen molecules are laid out to form collagen fibres
- relate the function of collagen to the way collagen molecules and collagen fibres are built