Collagen Flashcards
What is collagen?
A structural protein found in skin, bones, cartilage, teeth and the walls of blood cells.
What is collagen made of?
polypeptide chains with a repetitive primary structure.
what is the repetitive primary structure in collagen?
every 3rd amino acid in the polypeptide chains is glycine. The chains fold into helices.
What is quaternary structure of collagen?
three of the helical polypeptides wind around each other to form a three stranded rope.
what does the glycine R groups allow the chains to do?
lie close to each other
how are the chains held together?
hydrogen bonds - collectively very strong.
how does collagen become very strong?
Three stranded molecules of collagen run parallel to the other three stranded molecules.
Form cross links of hydrogen bonds.
Ends of the molecules are staggered to avoid creating any weak points.
