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Module 10: Proteins: From Sequence to Structure

Overview

By working their way through a series of models of polymers of increasing complexity, students can recognize forces responsible for protein's 3D shape. They compare folding of the same chain of amino acids in water and lipids, experiment with different sequences of amino acids and learn how charges, polar and non-polar amino acids affect the shape of a protein. Then students apply this knowledge to the case of Sickle Cell Anemia, in which a single point mutation causes the replacement of charged amino acid to a non-polar one, resulting in a misshaped protein.

Activities

• Amino Acids and Water: 20 Alanine Model
  
  
• Designer Proteins
  
  
• Effect of Charges on Folding: A Strongly Polar Conformation
  
  
• Effect of Charges on Folding: An Alternately Charged Conformation
  
  
• Electrophoresis, with SDS Page
  
  
• Experiement on an All-Hydrophilic Polypeptide
  
  
• Hemoglobin Tour
  
  
• How a Protein Gets Its Shape (older version): The Role of DNA as Code
  
  
• How a Protein Gets Its Shape: The Role of Charge
  
  
• Hydrophilicity
  
  
• Mass Effect of Diffusion
  
  
• Molecular Construction Kit: Joining Molecules Together to Make Macromolecules
  
  
• Polymerization
  
  
• Protein Conservation: an View into Proteomics
  
  
• Protein Folding (Stepping Stones-Full Activity)
  
  
• Protein folding starting from a random coil: a long polypeptide
  
  
• Self-Assembly (Demo model)
  
  
• Self-Assembly 2: Complementarity
  
  
• Self-Assembly with Nanomanufacturing
  
  
• Solvation of Polar Molecules
  
  
• Structure of Proteins: Insulin
  
  
• The Effect of Structures and Subforces on Protein Conformation
  
  
• Visualizing Beginning Molecular Ideas (a TEST)
  
  
• Water as mediators of proteins in cells
  
  

Objectives and Goals

Students will be able to:

• construct polymers from monomers;
• identify and manipulate in models the key forces on protein shaping (charge, lipid or water environment);
• interpret protein structure in a variety of representations;
• connect problems in protein structure with disease.

Standards

AAAS

THE LIVING ENVIRONMENT: CELLS - Most cells function best within a narrow range of temperure and acidity.

THE LIVING ENVIRONMENT: CELLS - The genetic information encoded in DNA molecules provides insructions for assemblng protein molecules.

THE PHYSICAL SETTING: THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER - The configuration of toms in a molecule determines the molecule's properties.