Daphne's Fun With Jolecule

To begin, I went to http://jolecule.appspot.com, where I clicked on "Myglobin" to view a sample protein structure. I then decided that during this activity, I would primarily analyze lysozyme, which is a bacterial wall digestor. This enzyme manages to break through bacterial walls by catalyzing hydrolysis through the addition of water molecules. Lysozyme is an enzyme which is quite abundant in fluid secretions of animals, as it acts as a protectorate against bacteria. The function of lysozyme proteins is to break down the polysaccharide chain by the process of hydrolysis. The structure of this protein is what enables it to perform this function. The structure is partially beta strand and partially alpha helices. The differential between the two (which are primarily concentrated on their own) occurs where the molecule bonds to the sugar. The amino acid side chains glutamic acid 35 and aspartic acid 52 are known to be critical in the function of this protein. Because the amino acid Glu35 is located at the end of the beta strand, it is able to break down the polysaccharide train by breaking off molecules to form water molecules. A mature lysozyme molecule contains 128 amino acids. With these amino acids, lysozyme is able to hydrolyze a beta-glycosidic linkage between the N-acetylmuramic adic and N-acetyl glucosamine within the polypeptide chain located in the bacterial cell walls of invading specimen. Lysozyme is an incredibly important enzyme, as it helps to fight off bacterial infections which could otherwise be harmful to the inhabitants.

The full view of the lysozyme molecule. The polysaccharide substrate is at the
bottom right of the image. It is shown here without H2O molecules, as it would
be before it performs hydrolysis on a bacterial wall.

Here, the lysozyme molecule is pictured with water molecules added, as they
would be when the molecule bonds to a bacterial wall through the process of
hydrolysis. The polysaccharide substrate is at the bottom right of this image as
well. Note how H2O Molecules are heavily concentrated near the
polysaccharide chain, where bonding occurs between the lysozyme protein and
the bacterial wall.

This image is showint the polysaccharide chain attatched to the protein
lysozyme

The critical molecule Glutamic acid 35 shown as the bonding site between
the protein lysozome and the polysaccharide

 Works Cited

"Lysozyme." - Worthington Enzyme Manual. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2014.