If four amino acids are all different, what is the number of peptides possible?
A) 2
B) 4
C) 8
D) 10
E) 12
F) 24***
Wouldn't it depend on the length of the peptide chain?
The question doesn't say anything about length. But if there were four amino acids all different wouldn't the answer be F.
To answer this question, we need to understand the concept of permutations. In this case, we have four different amino acids, and we want to determine how many different possible peptides we can make using all four amino acids.
The number of ways to arrange four different amino acids is given by the formula for permutations:
P(n) = n!
Where "n" represents the number of items (amino acids) and the exclamation mark represents factorial. Factorial means multiplying the number by all the positive integers less than it.
In this case, with four amino acids, n = 4. So the number of peptides possible is:
P(4) = 4! = 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24
Therefore, the correct answer is F) 24.