Formation of Amino Acids Model

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AMINO ACIDS AND PEPTIDE BONDS, PROTEIN STRUCTURE Name Institution AMINO ACIDS AND PEPTIDE BONDS, PROTEIN STRUCTURE There are many types of amino acids which a human being should have but among them the essentials include phe, val, trp, thr, ile, met, lys, leu. The exercise will deal with one of the amino acid which is called phenylalanine (phe) in terms of its composition and a simple model showing the appearance using the available materials. From the name phenylalamine it suggest that the amino acid comes from alanine group which is attached to a benzene. The alanine group is C6H6. The major function of phe is manufacture of the epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, and catecholamines dopa. If a person is born lacking an enzme to regulate the metabolism of phe then it leads to a condition called phenylketonuria which is characterized by severe mental retardation. The models and structure of phe is shown below. [pic] [pic] Characteristics of phenylalanine Reactivity -Phenylalanine is fairly non-reactive hence does not directly get involved in protein functions but plays a role in substrate recognition. Hydrophobicity- it exhibits hydrophobicity in aromatic side chain hence can be substituted for aliphatic residue of similar features. Because of this property it acts as a binder to some specific amino acids. Also phe can be substituted with other aromatic amino acids other than aliphatic residue. Levels of protein structure Below is a simple schematic diagram that shows the levels of protein structure; primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary [pic] Formation of peptide bonds through dehydration The structures below show how pepetide can be formed from two different types of amino acid by the expulsion of water. [pic] Breaking of peptide bonds through hydrolysis During hydrolysis of amide it is converted into a

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