AP Biology essay help?

Question

You are studying a cellular enzyme involved in breaking down fatty acids for energy. Looking at the R groups of the amino acids, what amino acids would you predict to occur in the parts of the enzyme that interact with the fatty acids? Why might this region of the enzyme need to be sequestered(hidden) in a pocket rather than on the enzyme’s surface?

Help please, I need to write an essay about this. (short)

Answer 1

Well, you know already it won't be any amino acid with a polar R group, so it would have to be Alanine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Glycine... actually there's alot of non polar amino acids.

Since water is all around, and is polar (due to electronegativity of Oxygen), the non polar amino acid would be hydro phobic, and thus hidden inside the protein.

Answer 2

Look for the amino acids that have hydrocarbon groups on them but not polar groups.  Those will be your lipophilic AAs, which will interact with fatty acids.  This region is hidden inside the enzyme because on the surface it would have to interact with water.  Lipophilic AAs are also hydrophobic.