Question

Which categories of amino acid would you expect to find on a soluble protein's surface and which would you expect to find in the interior? What distribution of amino acids would you expect to find in a protein embedded in a lipid bilayer?

Short answer

• Amino acids with polar side chains will be found on a soluble protein's surface, while amino acids with nonpolar side chains will be found inside the protein.

• Hydrophobic amino acids will be found on the protein's surface embedded in a lipid bilayer, whereas Hydrophilic amino acids will be found inside the protein.

Step-by-step solution

Introduction

Amino acids

• Proteins are made up of monomers called amino acids.
• Amino acids consist of a central carbon atom (alpha carbon), an amino group, a carboxylate group, a Hydrogen atom, and an R group.

Types of amino acids

• Twenty different types of amino acids are commonly found in proteins.
• on the basis of the R group, amino acids can be nonpolar, polar, positively charged, and negatively charged.

Explanation

• Amino acids with polar side chains, due to the hydrophilic properties of the side chain,will be found on a soluble protein's surface, while amino acids with nonpolar side chains will be located inside the protein.
• All cellular membranes are made up primarily of phospholipid bilayers. The phospholipids' hydrophilic head groups face the aqueous solution. The hydrophobic tails are trapped in the bilayer's center. So, nonpolar( hydrophobic amino acids) will be found on the protein's surface embedded in a lipid bilayer, whereas polar (Hydrophilic amino acids) will be found inside the protein.