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Walk the Even Hospital Database by book and chapter — the raw source passages that ground Ask, DDx, and the rest.

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introductionstatpearls· Introduction· item NBK470235

Nearly every function in living beings depends on proteins. They account for 50% of the dry mass of cells and play a role in everything an organism does. There are many different types of proteins. Different proteins can play a role in speeding up chemical reactions, storage, defense, cell communication, movement, and structural support. Humans have tens of thousands of proteins in their bodies at any moment. Each of these proteins has its structure and function. They are known as the most structurally complicated biological molecules. As diverse as they can be, they are all made up of the same 20 amino acids. Large polypeptide chains can be created by forming peptide bonds between the amino and carboxyl groups on 2 different amino acids.[1] Every protein can be described according to its primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structures. In brief, the primary structure is the linear chain of amino acids. The secondary structure comprises regions stabilized by hydrogen bonds between atoms in the polypeptide backbone. Tertiary structure is the protein's 3-dimensional shape determined by regions stabilized by interactions between the side chains. Quaternary structure is the association between 2 or more polypeptides, but not every protein has a quaternary structure.[2][3]