Table of contents

1. Introduction to Biochemistry4h 34m
2. Water3h 23m
3. Amino Acids8h 10m
4. Protein Structure10h 4m
5. Protein Techniques14h 5m
6. Enzymes and Enzyme Kinetics13h 38m
7. Enzyme Inhibition and Regulation 8h 42m
8. Protein Function 9h 41m
9. Carbohydrates7h 49m
10. Lipids5h 49m
11. Biological Membranes and Transport 6h 37m
12. Biosignaling9h 45m
Review 1: Nucleic Acids, Lipids, & Membranes2h 47m
Review 2: Biosignaling, Glycolysis, Gluconeogenesis, & PP-Pathway3h 12m
Review 3: Pyruvate & Fatty Acid Oxidation, Citric Acid Cycle, & Glycogen Metabolism2h 26m
Review 4: Amino Acid Oxidation, Oxidative Phosphorylation, & Photophosphorylation1h 48m

4. Protein Structure

Denaturation

Biochemistry

4. Protein Structure

Denaturation

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Multiple Choice

Why does heating a protein, such as an enzyme, cause it to lose its function?

Heat disrupts the non-covalent interactions that maintain the protein's three-dimensional structure, leading to loss of its active conformation.

Heat causes the protein to gain additional functional groups, enhancing its activity.

Heat increases the number of peptide bonds in the protein, making it too large to function.

Heat converts the protein into a carbohydrate, which cannot perform enzymatic functions.

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Verified step by step guidance

Understand the structure of proteins: Proteins are composed of amino acids linked by peptide bonds, and their function is highly dependent on their three-dimensional structure, which is stabilized by non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.

Recognize the role of temperature: Heat provides energy that can disrupt these non-covalent interactions, causing the protein to unfold or denature. Denaturation leads to the loss of the protein's specific shape, which is critical for its function.

Connect structure to function: Enzymes, as proteins, have an active site with a specific shape that binds to substrates. If the protein loses its three-dimensional structure due to heat, the active site is altered, and the enzyme can no longer bind substrates effectively, leading to loss of function.

Eliminate incorrect options: Heat does not add functional groups to the protein, increase the number of peptide bonds, or convert the protein into a carbohydrate. These statements are scientifically inaccurate and do not explain the loss of function.

Conclude the correct explanation: Heat disrupts the non-covalent interactions that maintain the protein's three-dimensional structure, leading to denaturation and loss of enzymatic activity.