This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of protein structure. If that is not the case, we encourage you to explore the Amino Acid Starter Kit from 3D Molecular Designs, or review our introductory CBM Tutorials on Protein Structure.

The ß-globin Protein

The Amino Acid Starter Kit from 3D Molecular Designs introduces the basic principles of chemistry that drive protein folding. This Jmol tutorial will allow you to determine how accurately a real protein, ß-globin, reflects these concepts in its final, folded structure.

The ß-globin protein shown to the right is in spacefill format, in which each atom is represented by a sphere the diameter of the atom's electron cloud. The protein has been colored with the CPK color scheme, meaning each type of element will have a unique color assinged to it.

• Carbon is gray
• Nitrogen is blue
• Oxygen is red
• Sulfur is yellow

Note that the Jmol display to the right is fully interactive and can be rotated by clicking and dragging with your mouse!

Proteins are large molecules that are synthesized in the polar, watery environment of the cell. They are made by joining amino acids together in a particular sequence. Because each of the 20 amino acids is different in shape and chemical property, proteins fold up into different 3-dimensional shapes following basic principles of chemistry.

Required Browser:

For the interactive Jmol display to function correctly, a Javascript enabled HTML5 compatible browser must be used, including:

• Internet Explorer 9 or later
• Firefox 29 or later
• Chrome 27 or later
• Safari 5.1 or later
• Opera 12.1 or later
• Android Browser 4 or later