Chapter 4, Problem 14P

Answers to all problems are at the end of this book. Detailed solutions are available in the Student Solutions Manual, Study Guide, and Problems Book.

A Rule of Thumb for Amino Acid Content in Proteins The simple average molecular weight of the 20 common amino adds is 138, but most biochemists use 110 when estimating the number of amino acids in a protein of known molecular weight. Why do you Suppose this is?

(Hint: There are two contributing factors to the answer. One of them will be apparent from a brief consideration of the amino acid compositions of common proteins. See, for example, Figure 5.16 of this text.)