Importance Of Denaturation Of Proteins

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Proteins are polymers of amino acids. A typical protein may be composed of hundreds of amino acids. Denaturation of a protein means loss of the protein's function due to its three dimensional structural which are held by a combination of forces which are hydrogen bonds, salt bridges also known as ionic interactions, disulphide bridges, and the hydrophobic interactions are altered in the protein. Denaturation of proteins occurred due to the hydrogen bonding in the peptide linkage are disrupted when there is an applying external stress such as by applying heat, treatment with organic compounds such as alcohols, heavy metals, or acids and bases. As a result, causing the folded three-dimensional protein to become unfold and unravel.

The egg white (albumin) is mainly composed of protein molecules. During denaturation process, the protein molecules …show more content…

Protein is in the form of zwitterion in aqueous solution which means it has both negative and positive charge at each end in which the negative charge allocated at the -COOH group while positive charge at the -NH2 group. Ionic interactions occur between both charged amino and carboxyl groups in the side chains of some amino acids in the folded protein. This both group take up the ions produce by the acid and base which then causes them to lose their charge. This disrupts some or perhaps many of the ionic interactions in the protein structure. Therefore, protein is denatured. However, the degree of denaturation by using lemon juice is not obvious compared to other test tube since there is no or only a small amount of white precipitate formed. This may due to the losing of ascorbic acid which is also known as vitamin C as a result of occurring oxidation reaction when it had been exposed to the environment for a long time. Therefore, the acidity of lemon juice is greatly reduced and almost reaches

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