第3章生体高分子

As we discussed earlier, a protein's shape is critical to its function. For example, an enzyme can bind to a specific substrate at an active site. If this active site is altered because of local changes or changes in overall protein structure, the enzyme may be unable to bind to the substrate. To understand how the protein gets its final shape or conformation, we need to understand the four levels of protein structure: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.

Amino acids' unique sequence in a polypeptide chain is its primary structure. For example, the pancreatic hormone insulin has two polypeptide chains, A and B, and they are linked together by disulfide bonds. The N terminal amino acid of the A chain is glycine; whereas, the C terminal amino acid is asparagine (Figure 3.25). The amino acid sequences in the A and B chains are unique to insulin.

The gene encoding the protein ultimately determines the unique sequence for every protein. A change in nucleotide sequence of the gene’s coding region may lead to adding a different amino acid to the growing polypeptide chain, causing a change in protein structure and function. In sickle cell anemia, the hemoglobin β chain (a small portion of which we show in Figure 3.26) has a single amino acid substitution, causing a change in protein structure and function. Specifically, valine in the β chain substitutes the amino acid glutamic. What is most remarkable to consider is that a hemoglobin molecule is comprised of two alpha and two beta chains that each consist of about 150 amino acids. The molecule, therefore, has about 600 amino acids. The structural difference between a normal hemoglobin molecule and a sickle cell molecule—which dramatically decreases life expectancy—is a single amino acid of the 600. What is even more remarkable is that three nucleotides each encode those 600 amino acids, and a single base change (point mutation), 1 in 1800 bases causes the mutation.

Because of this change of one amino acid in the chain, hemoglobin molecules form long fibers that distort the biconcave, or disc-shaped, red blood cells and causes them to assume a crescent or “sickle” shape, which clogs blood vessels (Figure 3.27). This can lead to myriad serious health problems such as breathlessness, dizziness, headaches, and abdominal pain for those affected by this disease. William Warrick Cardozo showed that sickle-cell anemia is an inherited disorder, meaning that the difference in the specific gene's encoding region is passed down from parents to children. As you will learn in the genetics unit, the inheritance of such traits is determined by a combination of genes from both parents, and these very small differences can have significant impacts on organisms.