Q.Write the important features of genetic code.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →The genetic code is the set of rules by which information in mRNA (a sequence of nucleotide triplets) is translated into a specific sequence of amino acids in a protein — it has several important, well-defined features.
The genetic code refers to the correspondence between the sequence of nucleotides in mRNA and the sequence of amino acids in the resulting polypeptide. Its important features are:
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Triplet code: The code is read in units of three consecutive nucleotides, called a codon. There are 64 codons in total (4³ = 64) — of these, 61 codons code for amino acids (sense codons) and 3 are stop/termination codons (UAA, UAG, UGA) that do not code for any amino acid.
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Degenerate (redundant): Since there are 61 sense codons but only 20 standard amino acids, most amino acids are coded for by more than one codon (e.g., leucine, serine, arginine each have 6 codons). This is termed degeneracy.
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Unambiguous and specific: Each codon codes for only one specific amino acid — a given codon never codes for more than one amino acid.
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Comma-less and contiguous (non-overlapping): The code is read in a continuous, contiguous manner from a fixed starting point, without any punctuation ("commas") between successive codons, and codons do not overlap — each nucleotide is part of only one codon.
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