Protein - what a curious and remarkable entity they are! It is an essential nutrient for our bodies as it builds muscles and bones and provides us with energy. But not many people know that proteins are even far more reaching for our welfare, we eat them yes but they well, also they are us, that is they are part of our make up. In fact most of our dry body weight is made up of protein which are vast molecules built from enormous chains of amino acids. Indeed, protein is a root substance in most living things of which there are millions of different types. In the human body alone there are over one million proteins. Amazingly, all are formed by the bonding of only twenty amino acids into gigantically long polymer chains. These combinations are unimaginably enormous, measured in quadrillions which contain fifteen zeros! Each of these million proteins is a miracle in itself, to make one you need to assemble amino acids in a particular order and exact order.
Beyond comprehension, they self-assemble themselves spontaneously and then form themselves into a specific shape which is required for the protein to function properly. Even after achieving these miraculous feats, the protein needs to reproduce itself. Alas, the poor old protein, wrecked after all it's exertions finds itself incapable of doing so. Step in old DNA, a maestro at replicating, indeed it's only purpose and you have a match made in heaven. The whole process is maddeningly difficult to get your head around but without it, well we would simply not be here. As mentioned earlier, the human body is composed largely of protein as are the bodies of the entire animal world. In addition many animal products are almost entirely protein such as leather and wool.