Secondary structure

Secondary structure in biochemistry and structural biology describes the general three-dimensional form of local regions or overall shape of biopolymers. It does not, however, refer to specific positions in three-dimensional space, which are considered to be tertiary structure. The secondary structure of a protein may include regions of alpha helices, beta sheets, turns, and random coil, or a few less common structures. Secondary structures can often be identified by circular dichroism spectroscopy. Nucleic acids also have secondary structure, most notably single-stranded RNA molecules.

Related Topics:
Biochemistry - Structural biology - Biopolymer - Protein - Alpha helices - Beta sheet - Turn - Random coil - Circular dichroism - Spectroscopy - Nucleic acid - RNA

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