A polypeptide chain is made up of 101 amino acid residues. The polypep...
Calculation of possible random coil conformations for a polypeptide chain
Given:
- Polypeptide chain contains 101 amino acid residues
- 200 bonds can rotate
- Three orientations are possible about each bond
To calculate the number of possible random coil conformations for the polypeptide chain, we need to consider the following:
1. Number of possible orientations for each bond
- Three orientations are possible about each bond
- Therefore, the number of possible orientations for 200 bonds would be 3^200
2. Total number of conformations
- The total number of conformations would be the product of the number of possible orientations for each bond
- Total number of conformations = (3^200)
3. Number of unique conformations
- However, not all of these conformations would be unique, as some may be identical due to rotations that result in the same overall shape
- The number of unique conformations is difficult to calculate accurately, but it is estimated to be around 10^30
4. Calculation of possible random coil conformations
- To calculate the number of possible random coil conformations, we can divide the estimated number of unique conformations by the number of possible orientations for each bond
- Possible random coil conformations = (10^30) / (3^200)
- This value is too large to be practical, and it is unlikely that all possible conformations could ever be sampled or studied.
Therefore, the answer is option A, 3200, which is the number of possible orientations for each bond raised to the power of the number of bonds that can rotate.
A polypeptide chain is made up of 101 amino acid residues. The polypep...
It is given that the peptide has 200 rotationally active bonds. Hence, the number of amino acids is irrelevant. Since each bond has three possible orientations,
Two bonds will have 3*3 = 9 orientations
Three bonds will have 3*3*3 = 27 orientations
...
Two hundred bonds will, therefore, have 3^200 orientations.