protein structure

1. The three-dimensional structure of a protein that is often key to its enzyme function. The structure of a protein is characterized in four ways: The primary structure is the order of the different amino acids in a protein chain, whereas the secondary structure consists of the geometry of chain segments in forms such as helices or sheets. The tertiary structure describes how a protein folds in on itself; the quaternary structure of a protein describes how different protein chains hook up with each other.

Example Sentences

Whether Vaughans theory of protein structure is the true one or not remains to be demonstrated.

From Project Gutenberg