thanks for stopping by this is two minute classroom and today we're talking about proteins and their structure and function in living organisms proteins are macromolecules made primarily of carbon hydrogen oxygen and nitrogen but can have other atoms for certain proteins proteins are so abundant in the body and crucial to cell function that they are often called the building blocks of life let's first talk about protein structure and then we'll talk about many of their fantastic functions the basic sub units for all proteins are called amino acids there are 20 main amino acids in living organisms these amino acids all have the same basic structure with the carboxyl group and an amino group but differ in their R group or sidechain the resulting amino acid may be polar nonpolar negatively charged positively charged or aromatic if that all just went way over your head that's okay for this video just know that there are 20 amino acids with subtle differences resulting in a variety of chemical structures these amino acids bond with each other through a peptide bond and form long chains referred to as polypeptide chains these chains then fold and bound themselves to form a complete protein and sometimes they combine with other proteins to make a more complex protein structure hemoglobin is a great example of this hemoglobin is the structure in red blood cells responsible for carrying oxygen to the cells it is made of four globin protein subunits each with an iron containing heme group in other words amino acids formed polypeptide chains that can become complex very quickly along with carrying oxygen through the body proteins have many other important functions enzymes are proteins that assist in most chemical reactions in living organisms lactase was mentioned in our previous video is the enzyme responsible for breaking down the carbohydrate lactose in addition to digestion enzymes are also in the metabolic energy pathways genetic functions such as transcription and translation and signaling communications between cells and the list goes on and on proteins are also crucial in forming the interior structure of the cell the cytoskeleton and are responsible for transporting materials both within the cell and between cells and of course our muscles are densely packed with proteins that facilitate the movement of our entire body proteins also include antibodies involved in our immune response and hormones use to communicate specific actions throughout the body that will is quite the crash course into proteins if you enjoyed this video let me know by hitting that like button and if you have additional comments or questions throw those below don't forget to check out my other videos and I'll catch you next time [Music] [Music]