How many water molecules would be produced from the dehydration reactions associated with making a protein that has a primary structure consisting of 378 amino acids, and that has a quaternary structure consisting of 2 identical subunits?
To determine the number of water molecules produced from the dehydration reactions in protein synthesis, we need to calculate the number of peptide bonds formed during the process.
Each peptide bond is formed by a dehydration reaction between two amino acids, in which a water molecule is eliminated.
In the primary structure of a protein consisting of n amino acids, there are n-1 peptide bonds formed. Therefore, in a protein with 378 amino acids, there would be 378-1 = 377 peptide bonds.
Next, we consider the quaternary structure of the protein, which consists of 2 identical subunits.
Since the subunits are identical, they have the same number of amino acids and peptide bonds.
Hence, for each subunit, there would be 377 peptide bonds formed, leading to the production of 377 water molecules (as each peptide bond formation releases one water molecule).
Since there are 2 subunits in the quaternary structure, the total number of water molecules produced would be: 377 × 2 = 754 water molecules.