Question

A homopolymer has only one type of building block called a monomer repeated 'n' number of times. A heteropolymer has more than one type of monomer. Proteins are heteropolymers made of amino acids. While nucleic acid-like DNA or RNA is made of only 4 types of nucleotide monomers, proteins are made of how many types of monomers?

Answer 1

Proteins:

1. Proteins are the building blocks of life.
2. Each protein is a composition of long chains of amino acids.
3. Amino acids are made up of an amino-functional group (-NH₂) and a carboxyl group (-COOH).
4. Although the proteins comprise the same groups, each structure of proteins varies from another.
5. The structure, shape, and function of a protein are determined by the sequence or series of 20 amino acids having an amino-functional group (-NH₂) and a carboxyl group (-COOH), hydrogen attached next to the carboxyl group, and a side chain (-R) which differs in every protein.
6. The side chain (-R) can be anything aliphatic or hydrogen or heteroatom or aromatic group.
7. Hence, proteins are made up of 20 types of monomers.