These Tangled Molecules Created Everything Beautiful In The World

From blood cells to towering redwoods, proteins make it all

Photo by Connor Wang on Unsplash

Think about how a string of 100,000 words can form the prose of a life changing novel.

Or how a string of notes makes up the song that can bring you back to your childhood.

Likewise, strings of proteins in cobra venom can stop the heart of an elephant.

While strings of proteins in a mother’s womb have the power to grow a heart and create new life.

But what is a “protein”, other than a term we toss around as carelessly as fat and sugar?

Proteins are the makers of the natural world, they built our bodies, the bodies of our loved ones, and the tree that shades our home. Proteins make the scent of our favourite flowers, and the vibrant colors of a coral reef.

Proteins are like humans- they come in all shapes and sizes.

Each is committed to its own craft, building specific molecules, communicating specific messages, convening in specific places.

All take part in the perfectly choreographed dance inside of every person, tree, bird, and jellyfish that will ever live.

Proteins, peptides, and enzymes are words that describe strings of molecules called amino acids.

All life uses an alphabet of twenty amino acids to make strings of varying lengths.

Short strings are called peptides, long strings are called proteins.

Think of amino acids as letters, peptides as words, and proteins as sentences.

That’s it.

A protein is a string, made of amino acids.