Bioengineers construct peptides with new functions by starting with a particular

Question

Bioengineers construct peptides with new functions by starting with a particular peptide and then mutating the amino acid present at different positions. They then screen the resulting mutant peptide for the desired function. Suppose the starting peptide is 10 ammino acids long. How many peptides need to be screened if the amino acids at positions 3, 5, and 7 are all mutated? If we consider all possible mutants for the amino acid at one position only, but this can be at any of the 10 positions, how many new peptides will need to be screened?

Explanation / Answer

Solution a)

As given the peptide is 10 amino acids long, the possible position for mutation are 3rd, 5th and 9th , so there are three positions. If we change any of the amino acid with other 19 position so the total amino acids need to be screened will be 19 X 19 X 19 = 6859 possible peptides to screen.

b) As there are ten positions on which 19 amino acids can be changed so the number of possible mutants will be 19 X 10 = 190 [Need to be screened]

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