Proteins are involved in almost every cellular process and come in many shapes and sizes. However all proteins are made up of only twenty amino acids. From a chemical point of view proteins are just heterogenous polymers composed of the twenty amino acids. Each of the amino acids have different chemical structures and characteristics. By combining the properties of these different amino acids proteins can preform a diverse range of functions.
Amino acids have two forms of shorthand, a one character code and a three character code.
Table 1 lists the amino acids in alphabetical order along with the corresponding shorthand and chemical characteristics. The sequence of amino acids in the protein. By conventrion sequences are written starting at the N-terminus and ending at the Carboxyl terminus. Examples of this are alpha helixes and beta sheets. How multiple proteins interact to form on large functional complex.