Video Transcript
A scientist is attempting to
categorize some unnamed proteins. Protein X plays a key role in the
immune response the human body has when infected by a pathogen. Which group of proteins, structural
or regulatory, is protein X likely to belong to?
This question presents a protein
that is implicated in the immune response. And it asks whether this protein is
regulatory or structural in nature. Let’s recall what these two terms
refer to.
Structural proteins are proteins
that can provide support, maintain the shape of the biological structure, or may
even be involved in movement. Regulatory proteins are proteins
which may bring about responses in the body. They may also be involved in gene
expression.
In our question, protein X is said
to play a key role in the immune response when infected by a pathogen. Here, we already have a pretty good
clue about how to categorize this protein, as we know it brings about a response in
the body. You might remember that an example
of a protein involved in the immune response is an antibody. Antibodies bind to the antigens on
the surface of invading pathogens. They can bring about various
responses in the body to fight off this pathogen.
So, from this provided description,
we can see that protein X is most likely a regulatory protein.
