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Multiple Choice
In the context of organic chemistry and genetic coding, how many unique codons are there in the genetic code?
A
20
B
64
C
4
D
32
Verified step by step guidance
1
Understand that a codon is a sequence of three nucleotides in mRNA that corresponds to a specific amino acid or stop signal during protein synthesis.
Recognize 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 that each position in the codon can be occupied by any of the four nucleotides.
Use the formula for permutations with repetition: the number of unique codons is given by 4^3, where 4 is the number of nucleotides and 3 is the number of positions in a codon.
Perform the calculation: 4^3 = 4 * 4 * 4, which results in the total number of unique codons.