Quaternary proteins

Two or more polypeptide chains together form the quaternary structure of proteins.
Ex 1. Haemoglobin
-

In haemoglobin, 4 tertiary proteins occur.

2. Insulin
-

Its a hormone, has two tertiary proteins.

3. Myoglobin

Fibrous proteins

Globular proteins

* Only secondary structures.

* Either tertiary or quaternary.

* Mostly hydrogen bonds; sometimes sulfur

bridges are also present.

* In addition to H- bonds, other bonds are also

present.

* Do not dissolve in water.

* Dissolve in water due to ionic bonds.

* Have a tensile strength from fibres.

* No tensile strength from globular proteins.

Ex: helices

Ex: -

Collagen
Kerotine

pleats
-

Silk of spiders

All enzymes
Haemoglobin
Myoglobin
Certain hormones (ex: insulin, glucagon)

Conjugated proteins
These proteins are associated with another molecule commonly known as the prosthetic group.

Prosthetic group + Protein

Conjugated protein

Ex:
Fe

+ P

Lipids + P
Carbohydrate/ sugars + P

Haemoglobin/ myoglobin
Lipoproteins
Glycoproteins

Denaturation of proteins

Sulfur bridges are formed when 2 cystine or 2 methionine molecules are close together
in the structure of polypeptide.
Sulfur bridges are heat sensitive. At higher temperatures, these break.
Ionic bonds and H- bonds are sensitive to pH changes.
When these bonds are broken, shape of the proteins change and the protein is said to
be denatured.

Nucleic acids

This is a macromolecule and a polymer. Elements found in nucleic acids are carbon (C),
Hydrogen (H), Oxygen (O), Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P).
Nucleic acid is a polymer of nucleotides.

Mononucleotide + mononucleotide

dinucleotide + H2O

Nucleic acids + (n-1)H2O

Mononucleotides
A single monomer consists of 3 sub units.

i.

Pentose sugar

ii.

Nitrogenous base

iii.

PO43- (Phosphate group)

I.

Pentose sugars
There are 2 types of pentose sugars.
a) Ribose (R)

b) Deoxyribose (D)

Based on this, there are 2 different nucleotides.

II.

Nitrogenous base types

Purines

Pyrimidines

Adenine (A)
Guanine (G)

- Thyamine (T)
- Cystosine (C)
- Urasil

(U)

In DNAs we find Adenine, Thyamine, Cytosine and Guanine. Thyamine is found only in DNA.
In RNA, we find Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and and Uracil. Uracil is found only RNA.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA)

RNA are single stranded linear polymers. Bases found are A, C, G and U.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

DNA is a double stranded linear polymer. Double stranded structure is resulted due to the
formation of H- bonds between Nitrogenous bases, of 2 nucleotides. H- bonds are made
between complementary bases.

A = T - 2 H bonds between A & T

G C 3 H bonds between G & C

Always a purine binds with a pyrimidine. As a result, the gap between the two strands of the
DNA will be the same.

In the DNA molecule, one strand runs from 5 to 3, and the other strand runs from 3 to 5.
Therefore these two strands are anti parallel to each other.
Some other H- bonds are made between strands making the double stranded structure helical.
Therefore we say that the DNA molecule is a double helix.

Q1
In a DNA molecule, there is 20% of adenine. What are the percentages of the other bases?