Proteins (ˈproʊtiːnz) are biochemical compounds

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

 consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular

Globular protein

Globular proteins, or spheroproteins are one of the two main protein classes, comprising "globe"-like proteins that are more or less soluble in aqueous solutions...

 or fibrous

Fibrous protein

Scleroproteins, or fibrous proteins, constitute one of the three main classes of proteins, alongside globular proteins and conjugated proteins.Keratin, collagen, elastin, and fibroin are all scleroproteins...

 form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...

 chain of amino acid

Amino acid

Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...

s bonded together by peptide bond

Peptide bond

This article is about the peptide link found within biological molecules, such as proteins. A similar article for synthetic molecules is being created...

s between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues

Residue (chemistry)

In chemistry, residue is the material remaining after a distillation or an evaporation, or to a portion of a larger molecule, such as a methyl group. It may also refer to the undesired byproducts of a reaction....

. The sequence

Peptide sequence

Peptide sequence or amino acid sequence is the order in which amino acid residues, connected by peptide bonds, lie in the chain in peptides and proteins. The sequence is generally reported from the N-terminal end containing free amino group to the C-terminal end containing free carboxyl group...

 of amino acids in a protein is defined by the sequence

DNA sequence

The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...

 of a gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

, which is encoded in the genetic code

Genetic code

The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material is translated into proteins by living cells....

.