What is a Protein? (from PDB-101)

Proteins play countless roles throughout the biological world, from catalyzing chemical reactions to building the structures of all living things. Despite this wide range of functions, all proteins are made out of the same twenty one amino acids, but combined in different ways. The way these twenty amino acids are arranged dictates the folding of the protein into its unique final shape. Since protein function is based on the ability to recognize and bind to specific molecules, having the correct shape is critical for proteins to do their jobs correctly. Visit PDB-101 (http://pdb101.rcsb.org/learn/videos/what-is-a-protein-video) to download related teaching and learning materials, including a presentation summarizing the content of this video and a flyer with abbreviated version of the content. Closed captions are available in English, Italian, and Romanian. To contribute subtitles in your language, use this link: http://www.youtube.com/timedtext_video?v=wvTv8TqWC48&ref=share Story by: David S. Goodsell and Maria Voigt Animation and Editing by: Maria Voigt Narration by: Brian Hudson