Amino Acid and Protein Assays

Proteins are large, complex molecules that play a major role in the structure and function of all living cells. Proteins are made up of one or more linear chains or amino acids, each of which is called a polypeptide. Amino acids are monomers, or building blocks, for proteins. The order in which amino acids are arranged is determined by the sequence of nucleotides in the gene that codes for the protein. Protein assays are used to measure the amount of protein in a sample.