1. Protein structure

Figure 1: General structure of an amino acid

Figure 1: General structure of an amino acid

1.1 Amino acids

Nature and structure

Amino acids are a class of chemical compounds containing 2 functional groups:

  • a carboxyl group – COOH

  • an amine – NH2

Amino acids play a fundamental role in biochemistry as fundamental building blocks of proteins.

There are 20 different amino acids that make up proteins.