protein
Meaning of protein: Proteins are chains of amino acids folded into specific shapes that carry out most of the body's structural, enzymatic, and signaling work.
Definition of protein
A protein is a large molecule built from a chain of smaller units called amino acids, linked together and folded into a specific three dimensional shape that determines its function. Proteins are essential to nearly every process the body carries out, and the body obtains the amino acids needed to build them both from food and from its own internal production.
Some proteins provide structure, such as collagen in skin and connective tissue or keratin in hair and nails, while others act as enzymes that speed up chemical reactions, or as antibodies that help the immune system recognize foreign invaders. Certain proteins, including some hormones, also carry signals between cells and organs.
Because a protein's specific sequence of amino acids determines how it folds and therefore how it functions, a change in that sequence, such as one caused by a genetic mutation, can alter or disrupt the protein's normal role in the body.
Used in a sentence
Laboratory testing measured the level of a specific protein in the patient's blood sample.
Good to know
A protein's function depends on its precise folded shape, so a genetic change that alters even a single amino acid in its sequence can be enough to disrupt how the protein works.