Week 4 HW: Protein Design - I

Part A. Conceptual Questions

Question 1. 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)

Answer

A dalton is a unit of mass used to express the mass of atoms, molecules, and other subatomic particles.

The percentage of protein is

Question 2. Why do humans eat beef but do not become a cow, eat fish but do not become fish?

Answer

This is due to digestion breaking down food such as meat and fish into basic molecules like amino acids, fatty acids, and sugars. The DNA present in Food is therefore broken down and rendered nonfunctional; as such, it is not directly incorporated into our genetic structure.

Question 3. Why are there only 20 natural amino acids?

Answer