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Exploring Fundamentals

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Exploring Protein Structure: Principles and Practice

Part of the book series: Learning Materials in Biosciences ((LMB))

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Abstract

This chapter provides you with a first foothold toward exploring protein structures. We will examine hemoglobin and papain, two proteins whose structures were first determined in the 1960s, the pioneering days of modern structural biology. The examination of the structure of hemoglobin illuminates the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure of proteins, while that of the plant protease papain provides insights into the properties of amino acids in proteins, with an emphasis on hydrogen bonding, ionization, and van der Waals forces. Hydrogen bonds will be illustrated using the structure of tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase, one of the first enzymes specifically modified by mutagenesis to investigate the importance of such bonds in enzymatic catalysis.

In contrast, asparagine is an interesting, quirky, opinionated residue with many unique properties. Jane S. Richardson and David C. Richardson (Richardson and Richardson 1989)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Tim Skern

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  1. Tim Skern
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Skern, T. (2018). Exploring Fundamentals. In: Exploring Protein Structure: Principles and Practice. Learning Materials in Biosciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76858-8_3

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