Proteins are composed of amino acids and play many essential roles in the body. They have four levels of structure: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary. The primary structure is the amino acid sequence, secondary involves hydrogen bonding into shapes like alpha helices and beta sheets, tertiary is the 3D folding of these structures, and quaternary involves the assembly of multiple protein subunits. Proteins serve as enzymes, hormones, antibodies, and structures. They undergo synthesis from amino acids and breakdown through catabolism. Disorders can occur if amino acid metabolism is disrupted.