Solution to PS 1 #20


Two phosphoanhydride bonds are hydrolyzed for every activated tRNA made by aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase (activation):

amino acid + tRNA + ATP -> AMP + aminoacyl-tRNA + PPi
PPi + H2O -> 2Pi

1 GTP  is hydrolyzed in each of the following steps:

Initiation (making the 70S initiation complex)
Insertion of the aminacyl-tRNA in the A site (during elongation)
Translocation (during elongation)
Termination  of translation

So for a 600 aa peptide to be synthesized the total number of phosphoanhydride bonds hydrolyzed is 2400 since:

Activation:                  1200 (2 x 600)
Initiation:                          1
Insertion:                      599
Translocaton:                599
Termination:                     1
Total:                          2400
 



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