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# Tertiary Structure of Proteins The tertiary structure of a protein describes how the protein's amino acid chain folds into a 3D shape. This structure is maintained by interactions between amino acid residues that may be far apart along the linear chain. * Interactions maintaining the tertiar...

# Tertiary Structure of Proteins The tertiary structure of a protein describes how the protein's amino acid chain folds into a 3D shape. This structure is maintained by interactions between amino acid residues that may be far apart along the linear chain. * Interactions maintaining the tertiary structure include: * Interactions between amino acids that are distant in the linear chain. * Interactions resulting from the folding of different fragments of the protein chain. * Creation of close spatial relationships between distant amino acid residues enabled by bending of the polypeptide chain. * Interaction between the amino acid residues through chemical bonds (covalent and non-covalent). These interactions stabilize the proteins tertiary structure. The image shows a diagram of a protein chain with a specific folding pattern. There are disulfide bonds (-S-S-) highlighted. The amino acids (represented by small shapes) and the specific bonds (like -COO-, H3N+ represented near the bonding site) are shown.