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Proteins as Polymers and Polyelectrolytes

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Encyclopedia of Polymeric Nanomaterials

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Definition

pI isoelectric point.

Polymeric Molecule

Proteins consist of amino acids conjugated by peptide bonds, which is a type of amide bond formed from a carboxyl group and an amino group in α-amino acids (except for one case). This special type of amide bond is called as a peptide bond and the large molecules (polymers) thus obtained are polypeptides.

A polypeptide is, as with synthetic polyamides, basically a condensation polymer and fundamentally a single and liner polymer. One or more polypeptides form proteins, and in many cases, several (single) proteins form an assembled molecule: a polymeric protein. Each component protein is called a subunit, and a protein having only one subunit is a single-subunit protein.

Proteins perform a wide variety of functions in living organisms, and the size or length of a polypeptide also varies widely. The largest (longest) single protein known is Titin (connectin: contributing to the passive stiffness of the muscle), which has a molecular size...

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Abbreviations

a.a.:

amino acids

LbL:

layer-by-layer

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomolecular Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto, Japan

    Shigeru Kunugi

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  1. Shigeru Kunugi
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Correspondence to Shigeru Kunugi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Fiber and Textile Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Shiro Kobayashi

  2. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany

    Klaus Müllen

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Kunugi, S. (2015). Proteins as Polymers and Polyelectrolytes. In: Kobayashi, S., Müllen, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Polymeric Nanomaterials. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29648-2_167

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