Proteins have primary structure. If you are given a method to know which amino acid is at either of the two termini (ends) of a protein, can you connect this information to purity or homogeneity of a protein?
Explanation Proteins are sequences of linear unbranched polymers of amino acids that are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. The amino acids are linked together by peptide bond (-NH-CO). Primary proteins are structural proteins containing linear sequence of amino acid units in a polypeptide chain. The sequence of primary protein is determined by the sequence of nucleotide triplets in the DNA duplex of the cell. If a protein contains same amino acid at both ends, it is called a homopolymer which is impure in nature. While a protein containing different amino acid at terminal ends, heteropolymer, tends to have purity Henceforth, it is possible to determine the purity of a protein if a method is given to identify the amino acids at terminal ends. Opinion: Purity of primary proteins can be determined based on the amino acids present at the terminal ends as heteropolymer show homogeneity. Final Answer Yes, with proper method of identification of termini amino acids, it is possible to check the homogeneity of the primary protein.
