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Laboratory

Agile Bioscience: Mastering Intact Molecular Weight Analysis for Biotherapeutic Characterization

Intact molecular weight analysis is a cornerstone of biotherapeutic development and quality control. Agile Bioscience offers cutting-edge solutions to ensure the accuracy and efficiency of your intact mass analysis workflows.

Primary Structure of Protein

  • The Primary structure of proteins is the exact ordering of amino acids forming their chains.

  • The exact sequence of the proteins is very important as it determines the final fold and therefore the function of the protein.

  • The number of polypeptide chains together form proteins. These chains have amino acids arranged in a particular sequence which is characteristic of the specific protein. Any change in the sequence changes the entire protein.

Secondary Structure of Protein

  • The proteins do not exist in just simple chains of polypeptides.

  • These polypeptide chains usually fold due to the interaction between the amine and carboxyl group of the peptide link.

  • The structure refers to the shape in which a long polypeptide chain can exist.

  • They are found to exist in two different types of structures α – helix and β – pleated sheet structures.

  • This structure arises due to the regular folding of the backbone of the polypeptide chain due to hydrogen bonding between -CO group and -NH groups of the peptide bond.

  • However, segments of the protein chain may acquire their own local fold, which is much simpler and usually takes the shape of a spiral an extended shape or a loop. These local folds are termed secondary elements and form the proteins secondary structure.

Tertiary Structure of Protein

  • This structure arises from further folding of the secondary structure of the protein.

  • H-bonds, electrostatic forces, disulphide linkages, and Vander Waals forces stabilize this structure.

  • The tertiary structure of proteins represents overall folding of the polypeptide chains, further folding of the secondary structure.

  • It gives rise to two major molecular shapes called fibrous and globular.

  • The main forces which stabilize the secondary and tertiary structures of proteins are hydrogen bonds, disulphide linkages, van der Waals and electrostatic forces of attraction.

Quaternary Structure of Protein

A )Circular dichroism (CD)

B) Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC)

C) Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)

D) Sedimentation Velocity Analytical Ultracentrifuge (SV-AUC)

E) Size-Exclusion Chromatography with Multi-Angle Light Scattering  (SEC-MALS)

Secondary, Tertiary and Higher Order Protein Structure 

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