Proteins: Explained

You might already know that proteins are a fundamental part of your diet, but they're much more than that.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Amino acids: are organic compounds that contain amino (–NH2) and carboxyl (–COOH) functional groups, along with a side chain specific to each amino acid.
- Proteins: are macromolecules composed of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Most proteins fold into unique 3D structures. The shape into which a protein naturally folds is known as its native conformation.
- Alpha helix (α-helix): is a common motif in the secondary structure of proteins and is a right hand-helix conformation in which every backbone N−H group hydrogen bonds to the backbone C=O group of the amino acid located four residues earlier along the protein sequence.
- Beta sheet (β-sheet): is a common motif of the regular protein secondary structure and consists of beta strands (β-strands) connected laterally by at least two or three backbone hydrogen bonds, forming a generally twisted, pleated sheet.
- Ribbon diagrams: are 3D schematic representations of protein structure that shows the overall path and organization of the protein backbone in 3D. Ribbon diagrams are generated by interpolating a smooth curve through the polypeptide backbone. α-helices are shown as coiled ribbons or thick tubes, β-strands as arrows, and non-repetitive coils or loops as lines or thin tubes.

CREDITS
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Ever Salazar | Co-Writer, Narrator, Illustrator and Director
David Wych | Co-writer and Consultant
Aldo de Vos, Know Art | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia Rius • David Goldenberg
Julián Gustavo Gómez • Melissa Hayes • Alex Reich
Henry Reich • Peter Reich • Leonardo Souza
Ever Salazar • Kate Yoshida

OUR LINKS
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OTHER CREDITS & REFERENCES
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Mol* (D. Sehnal, A.S. Rose, J. Kovca, S.K. Burley, S. Velankar (2018) Mol*: Towards a common library and tools for web molecular graphics MolVA/EuroVis Proceedings. doi:10.2312/molva.20181103)

Clathrin Structure (PDB ID: 3IYV)
Fotin, A., et al (2004). Molecular model for a complete clathrin lattice from electron cryomicroscopy. Nature 432: 573-579. doi:10.1038/nature03079

Immunoglobulin Structure (PDB IDs: 1IGT & 1IGY)
Harris, L.J., et al (1998). Crystallographic structure of an intact IgG1 monoclonal antibody. J Mol Biol 275: 861-872. doi:10.1006/jmbi.1997.1508

ATP Synthase Structure (PDB IDs: 5ARE, 5ARI & 5FIL)
Zhou, A., et al (2015). Structure and conformational states of the bovine mitochondrial ATP synthase by cryo-EM. ELife, 4. doi:10.7554/eLife.10180

Photosystem II (PDB ID: 5XNL)

Ribonuclease (PDB ID: 2AAS)
Santoro, J., et al (1993). High-resolution three-dimensional structure of ribonuclease A in solution by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. J Mol Biol 229: 722-734. doi:10.1006/jmbi.1993.1075

Myosin (PDB ID: 1B7T)
Houdusse, A., et al (1999). Atomic structure of scallop myosin subfragment S1 complexed with MgADP: a novel conformation of the myosin head. Cell 97: 459-470. doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80756-4

[enduringbird]

I'm a biology tutor and this is the best, most useful, highest quality teaching tool for proteins I've ever seen. It's the video I've dreamed of. Thank you.

[domj]

This video is like a sprint through my A-level biology textbook

[skyshooter]

Man the level of complexity inside everything is mindboggling

[akhiljindal]

As someone who studies computational modeling of proteins, thank you for making this.

[jawxin]

Seriously, if this were how chemistry was explained when I went to high school, I would've become a scientist. After watching this video, molecules, bonds, etc make much more sense.

[jacobwolfe]

I'm getting a PhD in structural biology, and I plan to share this to help explain my work. Thank you for making this!

[angrywolfjr]

fun fact, acidic levels and heat, can totally change the shape of the proteins which makes it either lose or slightly slow it's function, this is due to low temps slowing the movement of particals, high heat breaking protein bonds, and acidic changes effect the electrical charge a protein has, this is why boiling water makes it safe, you destroy all the bactira protiens, while freezing things temporarly pauses all the enzymes (which are protiens) from working

[jholotanbest]

Wait, this is absolutely fascinating and I need to know more.

[ZMicron]

Your explanation of the basic correlation between Amino Acid and Protein is way too good.
My 200 pages book I got from school can't even handle it.

[sciencewithtom]

I love this video. Total game-changer for helping to introduce proteins to my students!

[theemissary]

I have learned more about proteins in a nearly four minute video than i did in nearly four years of science in secondary school. Totally saving this for my kids to learn from in the future!

[kavindu]

A lot of the comments are from experts praising you for explaining a very complicated topic, simply and accurately. Well done.

[yonatanbeer]

I'm loving these representation videos form Ever.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

What are Spanish proteins made of?
Amigo-acids

[FobazF]

I really wanted you to mention the term catalysis in this video as that's what they do as shown with PSII and ATP Synthase - making chemical reactions go faster or making energetically impossible reaction to happen. Great video anyway proteins deserve more love!

[Nullzeros]

Speaking of proteins, you should do a video on Prions.

[KnowArt]

This video might've taken a lot more time, but I think it turned out absolutely wonderful! It's impossible to say "better" because other video's are _also_ super great, but I feel that this video has even more in-depth information that's still accessible, uses a bigger palette of animation styles ánd is more engaging with the sound effects and custom music. But that last part might be my own bias... hahaha
Great work Ever and David!

[MGSLurmey]

I love this! Please do more videos like this explaining the reality of often misunderstood concepts in science!

[zairazaira_]

Just downloaded Tab for a Cause! It's a great initiative, thank you MinuteEarth for showing us

[m.c.nooyen]

Amazing video, one of the best visual representation of proteins, wish I had this when I was in school!