Protein X is a protein that is composed of four subunits of equal size--alpha, beta, delta, and gamma--that are bound by either noncovalent interactions or disulfide bridges. Only the beta and delta subunits are bound to each other by disulfide bridges. How many bands would you expect to see in an SDS PAGE experiment in which beta-mercaptoethanol, a reducing agent, is used?

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Biology

14 January, 01:10

Protein X is a protein that is composed of four subunits of equal size--alpha, beta, delta, and gamma--that are bound by either noncovalent interactions or disulfide bridges. Only the beta and delta subunits are bound to each other by disulfide bridges. How many bands would you expect to see in an SDS PAGE experiment in which beta-mercaptoethanol, a reducing agent, is used?

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Ryland Graham · Answer 1

One.

Explanation:

SDS (sodium dodecyl sulfate) PAGE (Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) is the technique of the separation of the molecules on the basis of their molecular weight.

The beta-mercaptoethanol reduces and break the disulfide bonds present in the protein. When the protein X with the beta-mercaptoethanol is allowed to run on the gel, only one band will visible all the subunits have equal weight and will present at the same location on the gel.

Thus, the answer is one.