If each amino acid residue in a 100 amino acid protein could

If each amino acid residue in a 100 amino acid protein could assume three different conformations, the total number of possible structures for that protein would be:

a. 3 x (100 cubed).
b. 30,000.
c. 100 cubed.
d. 3 to the power of 100.
e. 300.

Solution

The number of possible confirmations are

d. 3 to the power of 100

Or 3¹⁰⁰ = 5×10⁴⁷ possible confirmations.