Vocabulary

Amino Acid: Compound with an amino group (NH2) on one end and a carboxyl group (COOH) on the other end; the monomer for polypeptides and proteins. Dehydration Synthesis: A reaction that combines two molecules by removing an H from one molecule and an OH from the other molecule, producing a water molecule and a polymer. Hydrolysis: The opposite of dehydration synthesis; a reaction that breaks apart a polymer into two subunits by the addition of an H and an OH group from a water molecule. Lipids: A large group of non-polar organic molecules that are water insoluble, soluble in organic solvents, can be/are ester-linked with fatty acids and includes fats, waxes, and sterols. Macromolecule: A complex molecule made by some form of polymerization. Monomer: A small molecule that bonds to other molecules to form a polymer. Nucleic Acids: A group of organic macromolecules that are made of nucleotides. Contain hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. They are polymers of nucleotides. Examples are RNA, DNA, and ATP. Nucleotide: The basic building block of nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. It is a compound made up of a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar, and a phosphate group. Organic Molecule: Molecules containing one or more carbon-carbon bonds or carbon-hydrogen bonds. Polymer: A large molecule made up of many repeating structural units called monomers. Polymerization: Process that forms a large molecule (polymer) from repeating subunit molecules (monomers). Polypeptide: A chain of up to 100 amino acids. Protein: An organic molecule made of one or more polypeptides that perform a specific function. Contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

What are proteins and what do they do?

Proteins are large, complex molecules that play many critical roles in the body. They do most of the work in cells and are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the bodys tissues and organs.

 Proteins are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller units called amino acids, which are attached to one another in long chains. There are 20 different types of amino acids that can be combined to make a protein. The sequence of amino acids determines each proteins unique 3-dimensional structure and its specific function. Proteins can be described according to their large range of functions in the body, listed in alphabetical order:

What are proteins made of?

The ingredients of a protein are amino acids. To build a protein we need to build a long chain of amino acids.

 There are 20 different types of amino acids, so there are lots of different protein chains we can build. Biologists give amino acids a code letter, as for DNA. This is much easier than writing out the whole name each time. For example, M is methionine, L is leucine,F is phenylalanine (because P is proline). Since there are four different DNA letters (A, G, C and T), there are 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 different combinations that can be used. However, as there are only 20 different types of amino acid, some of these 64 codons code for the same amino acid. Some of the 64 codons don't code for any of the amino acids. Instead they provide the punctuation and grammar, like where thecell should start and stop