Biology as Poetry: Biochemistry

Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Protein Secondary Structure

Interactions that occur between polypeptide backbones.

Protein secondary structure includes what are known as alpha helices, beta pleated sheets, and other less typical protein structures:

"Four secondary structures—alpha-helices, beta-sheets, reverse turns and omega-loops—make up more than 90 percent of the conformational structure of all proteins." — George D. Rose, 1996, No assembly required, The Sciences 36(1):26-31.

In addition to protein secondary structure, see also protein primary structure, protein tertiary structure, and protein quaternary structure.

Protein secondary structure involves primarily hydrogen bonding between the non-R-group portion of polypeptides.

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