Ch5polymerprotein

GeneralBiologyOnline

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Ch. 5 Contents

General
---------Biology-----------------------------------------------------
------------------Online------------------ Ch. 5 Macromolecules: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, nucleic acids

1.0 Polymer principles
Proteins: an example

Proteins are polymers, and amino acids are the monomers.

This is an amino acid.

Protein polymers are made out of chains of amino acid monomers.

A chemical reaction must occur to form a covalent bond between one amino acid and another. How many chemical reactions will it take to covalently bond these three amino
acids together? ___ A specific enzyme is required to catalyze these reactions. The chemical reaction removes the H from the amine and the OH from the carboxyl. The H and the OH then unite to form water as shown below.

Then the N of the amine forms a covalent bond with the carbon as shown above. This chemical reaction is called "condensation synthesis" or "dehydration synthesis." Click hereto see the peptide bond between the nitrogen and the carbon.

A covalent bond between two amino acids is called a peptide bond. Nutritionists call proteins polypeptides. Biochemists call short proteins peptides. Neurotransmitters, such as endorphins, are called peptides.

Ch. 5 Contents
2. Carbohydrates