Question

Why are proteins considered to be heteropolymers?

Answer 1

Hint:Proteins are the building blocks of our life. They perform many vital functions in our body from the genetic material to the hormonal composition. They have various units attached to it which perform a particular operation. They have a 3-D configuration.

Complete answer:
 What are proteins? A class of nitrogenous organic compounds which have large molecules is a protein. They are long chains of amino acids. They are essential to all living beings for their structural components. They are the dietary components.
What is heteropolymer? A polymer which is made from two or more different types of monomers is called heteropolymer.
For example- Starch is made of many units of glucose but the components of glucose remain the same, that is it has only one monomer thus it is a homopolymer. Even if the monomers are not identical, the resulting polymer will be heteropolymer.
Proteins are heteropolymers as they are made up of different amino acids. They have a three-dimensional arrangement. They have amino acid, hydrogen, nitrogen and COOH groups attached to it. They can be acidic or basic. Due to these many groups attached, proteins make themselves a heteropolymer.

Note: Proteins have 4 levels- primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. This helps us to understand the structure of a protein which is otherwise very complex. The protein may change its shape due to alteration in the surrounding conditions such as increased temperature. Amino acids make the polypeptide chain. The shape of a protein is important as it will determine the interaction of the protein with other molecules. We can now learn their structure up to the atomic level.