Biochemistry 2280A Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Immunoglobulin G, Competitive Inhibition, Collagen
Document Summary
After completing this topic, you should be able to: describe the functions of proteins in cells. Receptor: receives and transmits the signal to cells. Gene regulator: binds to genes to switch them on/off: define, in mathematical terms, affinity and the molecular interactions that allow proteins to interact with ligands. Ligand is a molecule that binds to another molecule, it binds to the activation site (substrate binding site) that is on a protein each binding site is specific to certain ligands due to amino acid side chains. Ligand binding is measured by kd which is the dissociation constant. It is a measure of the affinity (strength) of a certain interaction. Kd is calculated by using protein (p) and binding ligand (l), pl p + l so kd= [p][l]/[pl]. The smaller the kd value the tighter the bond the higher the affinity.