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Tertiary Structure

The tertiary structure, in biochemistry, refers to the overall shape of a protein. In simpler terms it is also known as the fold of the protein. Protein molecules are seen as linear chains of amino acids that usually take on a specific three dimensional structure. This structure is essential for them to perform their specific biological function. Structural biology is the branch of science that deals with the study of protein tertiary structures.

The tertiary structure is seen as largely determined by the protein’s primary sequence or the sequence of amino acids that are its composition. Protein structure prediction is the term that is used for the efforts that are used to predict tertiary structure based on the primary sequence.

It should be noted that the environment in which a protein is synthesized and given the necessary conditions to fold are a major factor in assuming the final shape of the protein. These are not taken into account however by the prediction methods being used at present. A majority of the methods used now do rely on the comparisons between the sequence that will be predicted and the sequences of known structure in the Protein Data Bank. Because of this, the environment is also included in the determinants even if indirectly and assuming that the target and template sequences do share similar cellular contexts.

Web Resources On Tertiary Structure

Tertiary Structure of Proteins
3-D structure of polypeptide chains

Book Resources On Tertiary Structure

The Protein Folding Problem and Tertiary Structure Prediction by Kenneth M. Merz and Scott M. Le Grand
Introduction to Protein Structure by C. Branden

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