Question

If your entire genome coded for 10 amino acids, how many different proteins could be made due to mutations?

1) 200
2) 200,000
3) 1,000,000
4) 2,000,000,000
5) 10,000,000,000,000

Answer 1

Given a genome coding for 10 amino acids, the number of different proteins possible due to mutations is 10,000,000,000,000, calculated as 20 to the 10th power.

Step-by-step explanation:

If your entire genome coded for 10 amino acids, the number of different proteins that could be made due to mutations is calculated by considering the all possible combinations of those amino acids. Since proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids, and any mutation could change one amino acid to another, each position in the protein chain of 10 amino acids could be any one of the 20 different common amino acids found in proteins. The calculation would be 20 possibilities for the first position, 20 for the second, and so on, thus 2010 total different possible combinations. This results in 20 to the power of 10, which is 102,400,000,000, or 1.024 x 1011.

The correct answer is number 5: 10,000,000,000,000 different proteins.