Question

What is an amino acid and how do they make up proteins?

Answer 1

The basic unit from which the protein is mainly built up of is amino acids. Amino acids are a type of small organic compound that are very important in formation of proteins.

Complete answer:
1)Protein is nothing but a long chain or a network of amino acids that are joined to each other by a type of bond that is known as a peptide bond.

2)A water molecule is removed from the protein chain as a byproduct of a reaction when two amino acids react together to join each other as the amino group from one of the amino acids reacts with the carboxyl group of the adjacent amino acid. This reaction leads to the formation of the peptide bond between two amino acids. In this manner, all the amino acids get linked to each other to form the long protein chain.

3)The amino acids are made up of one carbon atom which is linked to one carboxyl group, one amino group, a hydrogen atom and a variable group that determines the type of amino acids.

Note: There are a total 20 types of amino acids that are further classified as essential and non essential amino acids. The proteins are built up from these 20 amino acids only. These 20 amino acids are the same except the side chain which is different in all the amino acids. These side chains determine whether the amino acid is acidic, basic or neutral. Mostly these amino acids do not have any charge but some of them may have a positive or a negative charge.