https://pages.htgaa.org/2026a/katherine-silva/homework/week-04-hw-protein-design-part-i/index.htmlPart A. Conceptual Questions Answer any NINE of the following questions from Shuguang Zhang: 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) Why do humans eat beef but do not become a cow, eat fish but do not become fish? Why are there only 20 natural amino acids? Can you make other non-natural amino acids? Design some new amino acids. Where did amino acids come from before enzymes that make them, and before life started? If you make an a-helix using D-amino acids, what handedness (right or left) would you expect? Can you discover additional helices in proteins? Why are most molecular helices right-handed? Why do β-sheets tend to aggregate? What is the driving force for β-sheet aggregation? ANSWERS Question 1 As known, amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. However, meat is not composed entirely of protein; its composition varies depending on the animal and the specific cut. If we consider beef, which contains approximately 23% protein by weight, then in a 500 g portion there would be about 115 g of protein. It is stated that an average amino acid has a molecular weight of approximately 100 Daltons, and since 1 Dalton corresponds to 1 g/mol, this means an average amino acid has a molar mass of roughly 100 g/mol. For an estimate, we divide the total grams of protein by this average molar mass:Hugoen