Chapter 2 Notes Flashcards
Amino acids are composed of what 4 groups?
R group
Amino group
Carboxyl group
Alpha carbon
What determines which carboxy group dissociates first on an amino acid?
Positive charges on the amino groups in close proximity cause repulsion. This determines which COOH proton will dissociate first.
Which amino acids are mostly used as buffers?
Glycine and histidine
How do you determine the isoelectric point?
(pka1+pka2)/2
Simplest amino acid?
Glycine
Difference between alanine and glycine?
Alanine is and glycine is achiral
What are the nonpolar amino acids?
Valine, leucine, isoluecine, methionine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan
Which amino acid is involved in stronger VDW interactions in its interior due to its long side chains?
Leucine
What makes proline so different from the other amino acids?
It has a conformationally restricted ring structure that causes kinks in polypeptide chain because its side chain is bonded to both the amino group and alpha carbon.
Which amino acids can be absorbed by light and read in a Spec?
Phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan
What is the hydrophobicity ranking of the light absorbing amino acids? Why?
Phe > Tyr > Trp
Phe has side chain that is more hydrophobic. Trp has an indole group that is highly reactive and can deprotonate. Tyr has a hydroxyl group that makes it more polar and highly reactive.
What are the polar, uncharged amino acids?
Serine, threonine, asparagine, glutamine
What interactions are taking place in Phe, Tyr, and Trp?
Hydrogen bonding
What interactions are taking place in Serine and threonine?
Hydrogen bonding
What is interesting about cysteine?
Similar to Serine structurally but has a highly reactive sulfhydryl group (can form disulfide bonds in proteins – important for stabilizing protein structures); disulfide bonds are formed by cross linking by oxidation of a pair of cysteines
T/F: Extracellular proteins don’t have disulfide bonds, whereas intracellular proteins do not.
False. Opposite
What are the polar charged amino acids?
Lysine, arginine, histidine, aspartate, glutamate
What is special about histidine?
It has an imidazole group that has a pka of 6 and is found in the active sites of enzymes. Proteins will change the pH of histidine from neutral pH to 8 so it can be involved in enzymatic functions (reactions)
Known as the basic AA?
Histidine
How does pka play a role in HIV protease drug design?
Can stop HIV spread by dimer of aspartic acid groups in close proximity (active sites) that reduces the effects of the enzyme.
One is protonated and one is not (aspartic acid) because of a mechanism used to cleave peptides (modifies the surrounding protein environment)
What are the negatively charged vs positively charged polar amino acids?
Negative: aspartate, glutamate
Positive: Lysine, arginine, histidine
How are two amino acids linked?
Via peptide bonds accompanied by loss of water. The linkage is between an alpha carboxy group of one AA with an alpha amino group of another AA. It is not hydrolysis back in water into an individual AA, making it more stable.