Amino acids
Amino Acids - An introduction and brief explanation
Proteins are omnipresent in living matter, they are commonly known as the 'building blocks' of life.
Fibrous proteins are in the form of skin, muscle, silk fibres etc.
Soluble or globular proteins play their own roles in processes such as character determining genetic factors, matabolic intermediates etc.
Hydrolysis of proteins with acids produce mixtures of amino acids as the main products. Evidence shows simple proteins are linear co-polymers of alpha - amino acids in which they are linked by PEPTIDE linkages.
Molecules of short sequence amino acids are called peptides.
In all, there are around 20 different amino acids.
Natural proteins contain 100 - 400 amino acid units for each chain, with molecular weights of around 15,000 - 60,000.
So, the structures of proteins vary because the differing amino acid sequences are vast.
The formula for differing proteins is:
N=20n, where n=number of amino acid units in the chain.
Amino acids are low molecular weight organic compounds. On any carbon atom (i.e. the alpha - C - atom) are attached acids from the amino group and a carboxyl group; these give them their typical chemical and physical properties.
Further information on Amino acids
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