Proteins and Enzymes

By the end of the module the you should be able to:

• Explain how the amino acid sequence of a protein is related to its structure and hence to its function; including simple ideas of protein evolution and common secondary structure motifs;
• Describe some common protein folds and structural motifs, and relate these to the functional roles of motifs, and how the structures are stabilised.;
• Evaluate techniques used to determine the primary , secondary, tertiary and quarternary structures of proteins and explain the biophysical principles behind these techniques;
• Discuss the mechanisms underlying the catalysis of reactions by certain enzymes and methods used to determine enzyme rates and mechanisms;
• Analyse and interpret numerical data of ligand binding, UV spectroscopy, pH and enzyme kinetics, including use of SigmaPlot;
• Download, display and examine protein structure from the RSC protein database.