ABSTRACT
Proteins are larger and more complex than the traditional pharmaceutical products, such as those used as antibiotic, antianxiety, and chemotherapeutic agents. The diversity of protein structures is reflected by a diversity of biological functions. Proteins may serve as enzymes, hormones, or structural components of hair and skin. The basic building blocks of all proteins are the amino acids. The primary structure of a protein describes the order of amino acids along its linear chain. The regular secondary structures are alpha (α) helix, beta (ß) sheet, and the reverse turn. The association of discontiguous protein segments which contain regular conformations to form larger units is called supersecondary structure. Proteins can be categorized on the basis of their secondary and supersecondary structure. These are: antiparallel alpha, parallel alpha/beta, antiparallel beta and small irregular. The increased understanding of protein structure has encouraged scientists to design and synthesize model sequences having predefined secondary and tertiary structure.
