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Proteins
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The basic matter that compose living creatures
are proteins. They determine shape, physical, chemical and even
behavioral features of cells and organisms. Proteins perform
structural, transporting, storing, regulating functions. They are
hormones (information transmitters), antibodies, enzymes (they
catalyze - enable and quicken - chemical reactions that take place
in organism).
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Proteins are complicated particles built from
amino acids. Twenty possible amino acids in a linear order form a
polypeptide. Protein is one or more polypeptides that have a
particular spatial structure. The way in which a polypeptide will
be winded up has a great meaning and is determined by order of
amino acids. Changing that order can lead to rise of biologically
inactive protein.
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polypeptide
Arg, Cys, Lys
etc are abbreviations for names of amino acids
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For names,
abbrevations, linear formulas, and 3d pictures of all amino acids
try this link: http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/chemistry/bio/amino-acids_en.html
Information about cell structure and function
is kept in deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA).
DNA stores the information about among other
structure of proteins. DNA code translates linear sequence of four
elements (four possible bases in DNA) into linear sequence of
twenty elements (amino acids in a protein).
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