genetic code

Question 1

what is the genetic code?

Answer 1

the code for the sequence of amino acids

Question 2

what does ‘triplet code’ mean?

Answer 2

• the code is a sequence of 3 bases called a codon
• each codon codes for 1 amino acid
• sequence of codons = gene

Question 3

what does ‘universal’ mean?

Answer 3

used by all organisms

Question 4

what does ‘degenerate’ mean?

Answer 4

• 64 codons possible
• 20 amino acids
• more codons than amino acids so many amino acids have more than one codon

Question 5

what does ‘non overlapping’ mean?

Answer 5

each base sequence is only read once