| Protein Folding |
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Information AboutProtein Folding |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PROTEIN FOLDING | |
| protein structure | |
| protein folds | |
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Protein folding is the physical process by which a Polypeptide folds into its characteristic Three-dimensional Structure 1. Each protein begins as a Polypeptide , translated from a sequence of MRNA as a linear chain of Amino Acids . This polypeptide lacks any developed three-dimensional structure (the left hand side of the neighboring figure). However each amino acid in the chain can be thought of having certain 'gross' chemical features. These may be Hydrophobic , Hydrophilic , or electrically charged, for example. These interact with each other and their surroundings in the cell to produce a well-defined, three dimensional shape, the folded protein (the right hand side of the figure), known as the Native State . The resulting three-dimensional structure is determined by the sequence of the amino acids2. The mechanism of protein folding is not completely understood. Experimentally determining the three dimensional structure of a protein is often very difficult and expensive. However the sequence of that protein is often known. Therefore scientists have tried to use different Biophysical techniques to manually fold a protein. That is, to predict the structure of the complete protein from the sequence of the protein. For many proteins the correct three dimensional structure is essential to function |
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