Separation Of Protein And Mass Analysis Lab Report

Separation of Proteins and Mass Analysis Using SDS PAGE
Biology 00-01L

Abstract This experiment consisted of separating proteins into polypeptides using a method called SDS PAGE which is a type of electrophoresis. The polypeptides had different masses, so each polypeptide traveled a different distance and this was an essential part of the lab which demonstrated that there exists a relationship between the distance traveled by the protein and the mass of the protein. This relationship was graphed and provided logarithmic function which could be used to find the size of an unknown protein just by measuring the distance that it traveled and plugging it to the equation. This is an important technique
In the secondary protein structure, the sequence of amino acids connect into a chain with the aid of hydrogen bonds and form repeating patterns of either beta sheet or alpha helix. In the tertiary structure, the patterns of amino acid chains combine to make a 3-dimentioal folding pattern and in the quaternary structure, these 3-dimentinal chains of amino acids combine to form a protein. Proteins are good to serve different functions in our bodies. For starters, proteins are able up act as enzymes that speed up reactions in our body. Proteins are also capable of serving as antibodies to help protect our bodies from being invaded by outside substances or organisms. They are also an important part of the nervous system because proteins receive and respond to molecular signals that come from inside or outside the organism. Proteins also serve as a boat that transports substances within the organism and they can also regulate how a gen will be interpreted. The protein serves these functions and many
The first objective was accomplished while the procedure of the experiment was taking place and the second objective was accomplished after the experiment was performed and seeing that the proteins separated into bands and that each band traveled a certain distance. This also provided a relative relationship between the distance traveled and the mass of the protein which was graphed using excel. The graph presented that the mass of the protein and distance traveled by the protein existed as logarithmic function and the logarithmic function was also used to find the masses of the unknown proteins using the distance traveled. This graph proved my hypothesis correct that those proteins with small masses would travel further than those proteins with larger masses, which would travel smaller distance. There were factors, however, that may have affected our data. There were supposed to be nine bands on the marker in well three but due to the resolution of the photograph, only seven bands were noticeable and only six bands were used to make a graph using excel. This may