Editing Protein primary structure (section)

==Relation to secondary and tertiary structure==
{{main|Biomolecular structure}}

The primary structure of a biological polymer to a large extent determines the three-dimensional shape ([[tertiary structure]]). Protein sequence can be used to [[Protein structure prediction#Secondary structure|predict local features]], such as segments of secondary structure, or trans-membrane regions. However, the complexity of [[protein folding]] currently prohibits [[protein structure prediction|predicting the tertiary structure]] of a protein from its sequence alone. Knowing the structure of a similar [[Sequence homology|homologous sequence]] (for example a member of the same [[protein family]]) allows highly accurate prediction of the [[tertiary structure]] by [[homology modeling]]. If the full-length protein sequence is available, it is possible to estimate its general [[biophysics|biophysical properties]], such as its [[isoelectric point]].

Sequence families are often determined by [[sequence clustering]], and [[structural genomics]] projects aim to produce a set of representative structures to cover the [[protein sequence space|sequence space]] of possible non-redundant sequences.