CATEGORY: VCE 3 & 4 Biology

Proteins 101

Course Access: Lifetime
Free
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Course Overview

This course is recommended for students attending Ecolinc’s onsite program, Proteomics, but can also be undertaken as a stand-alone course. It looks at why proteins are important in our diets, the structure of proteins and how they are produced from our genes.

Background Information:

Proteins are one of the three macromolecules required in our diet and have a more complex structure than the other two – carbohydrates and lipids. There are thousands of different proteins, all having different structures and functions. While our bodies consist mostly of water, proteins make up over half the dry weight of our cells. A proteome refers to the complete set of proteins in an organism’s body while proteomics refers to the study of their structure, function and interactions.

Year Level: 12

Prior Knowledge:

This program builds on a basic knowledge of DNA.

Course Connections:

Does this course link to other Ecolinc programs?

This course is recommended as pre-learning for Ecolinc’s VCE Biology Unit 4 program:

AoS2: Proteomics

Learning Intentions:

In this program, students will:

  • become familiar with the variety of functions of proteins
  • explore the structure of amino acids and proteins
  • consider the factors that denature proteins
  • review the process of protein formation from genome origins

Estimated duration: 30 minutes

VCE Area of Study

Biology Unit 4: Outcomes 1

  • nucleic acids as information molecules that encode instructions for the synthesis of proteins: the structure of DNA, the three main forms of RNA (mRNA, rRNA and tRNA) and a comparison of their respective nucleotides
  • the genetic code as a universal triplet code that is degenerate and the steps in gene expression, including transcription, RNA processing in eukaryotic cells and translation by ribosomes
  • amino acids as the monomers of a polypeptide chain and the resultant hierarchical levels of structure that give rise to a functional protein
  • proteins as a diverse group of molecules that collectively make an organism’s proteome, including enzymes as catalysts in biochemical pathways
  • the role of rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and associated vesicles in the export of proteins from a cell via the protein secretory pathway

Course Design: David Tait