Module 1: The Building Blocks

Amino Acid Properties

Master the 20 amino acids — their chemistry, physical properties, and roles in protein structure.

• Classify the twenty amino acids by the properties that decide where they sit in a fold
• Predict whether a residue belongs in the buried core or on the solvent-exposed surface
• Explain the hydrophobic effect as the dominant driving force behind folding
• Reason about the four interaction types that hold a fold together: burial, electrostatics, packing, and aromatic stacking
• Recognise why proline, glycine and cysteine behave unlike any other residue
• Design a short peptide that satisfies charge, core, salt-bridge and stacking constraints at once