Importance of proteins

Question 1

What are fundamental properties of biological macromolecules?

Answer 1

-Stereospecificity

• Structural flexibility
• Multivalency (multiple ligands)
• Allostery
• Reversible covalent modifications (PO3)
• Weak interactions
• Cooperativity
• Modularity
• Combinatorics
• Polarity

Question 2

Proteins can perform diverse functions:

Answer 2

– Motor proteins

– Structural components of cells

– Enzymes

– Antibodies

– Hormones

–Hemoglobin/myoglobin

– Transport proteins in blood

Question 3

Proteins are involved …

Answer 3

in almost all cell functions

Question 4

A protein performs… (types of functions)

Answer 4

metabolic, structural, or
regulatory functions in a cell

Question 5

Cellular biochemistry based on …

Answer 5

interactions between 3-D molecular structures

Question 6

Failure of a protein…

Answer 6

(missing or inactive) can leadto serious health problems (prions, etc…)

Question 7

The study of protein structure is not only of fundamental scientific interest in terms of understanding biochemical processes, but also produces very valuable practical
benefits:

Answer 7

• Medicine

– The understanding of enzyme function allows the design of new and improved drugs

• Agriculture

– Therapeutic proteins and drugs for veterinary purposes and for treatment of plant diseases

• Industry

– Protein engineering has potential for the synthesis of enzymes to carry out various industrial processes on a mass scale

Question 8

An incorrectly folded protein will not …

Answer 8

function properly:

Examples:

• Adult-onset diabetes:

– Protein misfolding may be responsible for blood-vessel
damage, blindness and other debilitating effects

• Cystic Fibrosis:

– Most common mutation underlying cystic fibrosis hinders the dissociation of the transport-regulator protein from one of its chaperones. Thus, the final steps in normal folding cannot
occur, and normal amounts of active protein are not produced.

*Alzheimer’s disease:

• Alzheimer’s disease may be caused
  by small clumps of wrongly folded
  proteins. Scientists have found that
  misfolded amyloid beta protein
  molecules hinder memory processes
  in rat brains by blocking synapses

Question 9

Structure is Central…

Answer 9

Function depends
On protein shape.

Specific associations
Precise reactions.

Question 10

The relationship of sequence to function is primarily concerned with …

Answer 10

understanding the 3-D folding of
proteins and inferring protein functions
from these 3-D structures (e.g. binding
sites, catalytic activities, interactions
with other molecules)

Question 11

Structure displays:

Answer 11

Common displays are (among others)
cartoon, spacefill, and backbone