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Chapter 4
Proteins as Products
• Proteins
– Are complex molecules built of chains of amino acids
– Have electrical charge that causes them to interact with
other atoms and molecules
• Hydrophilic – water loving
• Hydrophobic – water hating
• Protein Folding
– The structure and function of a protein depends on
protein folding
– If protein is folded incorrectly, desired function of a
protein is lost and a misfolded protein can be detrimental
– 1951 two regular structures were described
• Alpha helices and beta sheets
• Structures are fragile; hydrogen bonds are easily broken
• Protein Engineering
– Introducing specific, predefined alterations in the amino
acid sequence through a process known as directed
molecular evolution technology
– Creating entirely new protein molecules
• Protein Engineering
– Example using biotechnology to form synthetic infectious
protein particles to study the following diseases
• Faulty protein folding is expressed as a disease caused by
infectious protein particles called prions which attract normal cell
proteins and induce changes in their structure leading to
accumulation of useless proteins that actually damage cells
– Prion can occur in sheep and goats (scrapie) and cows (mad cow
disease)
– Human forms of these brain destroying diseases include kuru and
transformable spongiform encephalitis
– All of these diseases involve changes in conformation of the prion
precursor protein (protein normally found in mammalian neurons as
a membrane glycoprotein)
• Lyophilization (freeze-drying)
– Protein, usually a liquid product, is first frozen
– A vacuum is used to hasten the evaporation of water
from the fluid
– Will maintain protein structure and can be stored at room
temperature for long periods of time
• Protein Sequencing
– Must determine the primary structure, the sequence of
amino acids
• X-ray Crystallography
– Used to determine the complex tertiary and quaternary
structures