Biochemistry Lecture: Unit 2 Amino acids and protein structure

The course was built based on Biochemistry courses of MIT, Harvard, and Stanford MIT: 7.05 Harvard: MCB 63 Stanford: BIO 83 The course covers the content of a two-semester undergraduate biochemistry sequence. It is built from the topics taught in: MIT 7.05 General Biochemistry and 5.07 Introduction to Biological Chemistry; Harvard MCB 63 Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine and MCB 65 Physical Biochemistry; Stanford CHEM 141/143 The Chemical Principles of Life I & II, BIO 83 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and CHEM 181 Biochemistry I. The big idea Proteins are chains built from 20 amino acids. The order of amino acids (primary structure) folds into helices and sheets (secondary), a full 3-D shape (tertiary), and sometimes a multi-chain assembly (quaternary). The shape decides what the protein can do. By the end of this unit, I can… ☐ sort amino acids by side chain: nonpolar, polar, acidic (−) and basic (+) ☐ explain why the peptide bond is flat and rigid ☐ describe the four levels of protein structure and the forces that hold each ☐ open a structure in a viewer (e.g., PyMOL) and point out helices, sheets and the active site