Research Paper about Amino Acids

Amino acids, which are made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are the building blocks of all proteins. Amino acids play an important role in the body's functioning since they are required for cell building. A peptide is a small chain of two or more amino acids, whereas a polypeptide is a chain of numerous amino acids. A peptide is formed through 2 amino acid bonds by hydrogen bonding. Similar to peptides, proteins are also made up of amino acids. Proteins are really just naturally occurring and incredibly complex substances made up of amino acids that are linked together by peptide bonds. There are 20 amino acids in each protein. A protein's job is to keep the body's pH and fluid balance in check, as well as to build, replace, and repair tissues. The model created was of an amino acid, and it was used to demonstrate how important the structure of a protein is in order for it to function properly. 

The model was built to represent a protein chancel, which consisted of eight amino acids. To make the model, you'll need eight identically sized pieces of paper. To form an amino acid I needed to form a 1 piece of paper diagonally in half two times. I made sure to press down on the folded edges so that when I unfolded the paper, the lines would be prominent. Then after completely unfolding the paper there should be a big X line indent in the paper. I refolded the paper horizontally so that it was in the shape of a rectangle. I folded it again so that the paper was now in a square shape. Since I had all the indents I needed in the paper I began the process of folding it into an amino acid. I unfolded half of the paper enough so that when I placed it on the table it could stand, but I didn't open it so that it could lay flat on the table. I took one one side of the paper and pushed on the indents enough so that a triangle was formed. I made sure to have the back of one side of the triangle up against the half the square that wasn’t pushed into a triangle yet. At that point the amino acid looked as if there was a triangle with a square behind one side of it. The step was related to the other side of the paper so that now both sides were shaped the same (triangular). On one side of the paper, I grab a hold of each side of the triangle and fold it inwards down the center. I then flipped the paper over and at that point it looked similar to a paper airplane. On the second side I repeated the same step. By the end there should have been a total of 4 triangle folds, two on each side. That would have been 1 completed amino acid. I repeated that process 7 more times to make the remainder of amino acids needed. I needed to make a total of eight amino acids to form the peptide chain.

To get the structure of the protein, I had to fold the model in a precise way. After generating all eight amino acids, I needed to put them all together to create the protein channel. I had to connect the 2 ends of an amino acid to the other 2 ends of another one. I repeated this process till I had one long chain of amino acids. I then connected both ends of the amino acid chain which formed my protein channel. Now this protein channel had 2 shapes, either folded in to show “closed” or folded outwards to show “open”.The protein formation used to define this model is quaternary structure. This structure is quaternary because it has two polypeptide chains. In other words, It is made up of more than one amino acid chain.

The protein model is defined as a quaternary structure because of how it is made up of more than one polypeptide chain. The model could be folded 2 different ways and each way represents how a protein molecule would work. Proteins are found in almost every area of the body, including muscle, bone, skin, hair, and practically every other tissue. It is made up of enzymes that power many chemical reactions as well as hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a type of protein that's responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body. When the protein model is opened (folded outwards), the concept is that the protein is on the cell's surface, allowing molecules to pass through. Iron, sugar, and other atoms are examples of molecules. When a protein is closed, molecules cannot pass through it, causing the opposite effect. 

There are a total of 4 levels of a protein structure. The first level is known as the primary structure. The sequence of amino acids that make up a polypeptide chain called the primary structure. The main sequence of a protein is the order in which the amino acids appear in that protein. The second level is known as the secondary structure. Secondary structures are folded structures that develop within a polypeptide as a result of interactions between the polypeptide chain's atoms. The third level of a protein structure is tertiary. The tertiary structure of a polypeptide is referring to the three-dimensional structure of the polypeptide. Interactions between the R groups of the amino acids that make up the protein are mostly responsible for the tertiary structure. Quaternary structure is the fourth level of a protein's structure. This structure is what allows proteins to have multiple functions. Each part of a protein structure represents a specific type of group. The groups that make up an amino acid are the carboxyl group, R-group, and amino group.