https://pages.htgaa.org/2026a/karina-campos/homework/week-04-hw-protein-design-part-i/index.htmlPart A. Conceptual Questions How many molecules of amino acids do you take with a piece of 500 grams of meat? (on average an amino acid is ~100 Daltons) Assumptions: Meat ≈ 20% protein. 500 g meat → ~100 g protein. Average amino acid residue mass ≈ 100 Da ≈ 100 g/mol. So: 100 g ÷ 100 g/mol ≈ 1 mole of amino acid residues. 1 mole = 6.022 × 10²³ molecules. 👉 You ingest on the order of 6 × 10²³ amino acid residues in 500 g of meat. Why do humans eat beef but do not become a cow, eat fish but do not become fish? Because digestion destroys biological structure. Proteins are hydrolyzed into amino acids. The original sequences (information) are lost. Your body reassembles amino acids according to human DNA instructions. Biological identity is encoded in sequence and genomic regulation — not in the raw amino acid building blocks. You absorb matter, not identity. Note: While reading this response, I was prompted to ask ChatGPT the following question: “Do the 20 amino acids explain all the DNA of all species? Are there more evolved species that use more amino acids?” ChatGPT’s response was: Yes, the same 20 amino acids (with two rare exceptions) account for virtually all proteins in all known living organisms. There are no “more evolved” species that use a greater number of standard amino acids.Hugoen