I would like to continue along the same vein as Audrey in terms of relating basic biochemistry to our own lives- with perhaps a bit of social psychology incorporated.
Bio-chem component: Proteins with different primary structures, giving way to different combinations of the amino acids, which range in charge, size etc result in proteins which interact differently with their environment. The result is that, in general, a protein in the cell will fold up into a quite specific, functional shape called its native conformation that is favored energetically over the disorderly soup of molecules of other shapes that cannot accomplish the biological function of the natively folded protein.
Psych component: I would like to draw a kind of wonky connection between what we were talking about last class, concerning carbohydrates, and how they interact with their environment in the same way proteins due, based on charge/polar interactions (or in terms of the dieletric constant, as another way to think about it,) and a concept called heritability- something I have come across in my Psych classes. Heritability is often thought to be a general concept, equally applicable to any part of the world. However, it is actually population-based, meaning the significance of genetics varies based on location: the less the diversity of socio-economic/educational background in a particular community, the more significant the genetic variability whereas a community with more socio-econmic/ educational diversity has less significance in terms of genetic variability. So the environment in which we live is very important, the people we surround ourselves with is very important!
Anyway- here’s my bit of a stretch comparison: Just as we are very much influenced by the environment in which we grow up in, particularly the interactions we have with family members, friends, teachers etc, molecules too (carbs and proteins) are influenced by their environments. If we fit well in our environments, we begin to shape ourselves as cohesive members of those environments, soluble in the culture of the community, performing a certain purpose for that community. However, if we do not fit well within the community, we might become insoluble, isolated, unable to perform a specific function as part of the community. As young people grow up, through trial and error, they go through a messy process of folding and unfolding, until they reach the right shape. This goes along the lines of the ugly duckling story if I remember correctly. And some time around High School, college or later, we find our native conformations, the state in which we feel we can authentically be ourselves. Of course we will face many different kinds of environments going forward, perhaps more diverse in nature than a cell will ever come across- for there is not much leeway in deviating from physiological (pH 7) conditions, but as we face these environments, we too have chaperones, aka our own self understanding, friendships, and family!
This post was great!! I often find that anthropomorphizing proteins is such a helpful way to remember certain biochemistry concepts. Although I must say that it was initially frustrating (for me) to only know the anthropomorphic part without actually knowing the physics and chemistry behind an interaction. For example what does it mean for a protein to “recruit” other proteins? I had no idea what that even meant until I start looking at signaling pathways from a biochemical perspective!
And I think the analogy is very fitting – we do not live a social vacuum (thank goodness), nor do our proteins – so it is crucial to take into account our environment since it’s part of the equation that must be factored in. Nice job!!