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Multiple Choice
How many different codons code for amino acids in the genetic code?
A
64
B
23
C
61
D
20
Verified step by step guidance
1
Understand that a codon is a sequence of three nucleotides in mRNA that specifies an amino acid or a stop signal during protein synthesis.
Recall that there are four different nucleotides in RNA: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U).
Calculate the total number of possible codons by considering all combinations of three nucleotides: 4 (A, C, G, U) raised to the power of 3 (triplet codon), which is represented as 4^3.
Recognize that the genetic code includes 64 possible codons, but not all of them code for amino acids. Three of these codons are stop codons, which signal the termination of protein synthesis.
Subtract the number of stop codons (3) from the total number of codons (64) to determine how many codons actually code for amino acids.