Question

Which phenomenon related to protein structure involves nonpolar side chains of multiple amino acids?

A. Hydrophobic interactions

B. Hydrogen bonds

C. Covalent bonds

D. Disulfide bonds

E. Peptide bonds

Answer 1

The phenomenon related to protein structure involves nonpolar side chains of multiple amino acids is hydrophobic interactions.Proteins are built from a set of twenty amino acids,each of which has a unique side chain .The side chain of amino acids have different chemistries .The largest group of amino acids have non polar side chain .The chemistry of amino acid side chain is critical to protein structure because these side chain can bond with one another to hold a length of protein in a certain shape or conformation.Charged amino acids can form ionic bond and polar amino acids are capable of forming hydrogen bonds.Hydrophobic side chains can interact with each other via weak Van der Waals interaction .The vast majority of bonds formed by these side chains are non-covalent This hydrophobic amino acids have aliphatic side chains ,which are insoluble in water.The side chain of alanine,valine,leucine ,isoleucine and methionine consist of entirely of hydrocarbons except for the sulphur atom in methionine ,and all are non polar .Folded proteins are stabilized by thousands of non-covalent bonds between amino acids.