Genes And The Triplet Code

Question 1

What are genes

Answer 1

Section of dna found at a locus which codes for a polypeptide a protein or a ribosomal rna

Question 2

How are amino acids coded for

Answer 2

There are 20 occurring amino acids if one base coded for an amino acid there will only be 4 amino acids if two bases coded for amino acids there will only be 16 amino acids stills not enough so three bases code for an amino acid

Question 3

Features of the genetic code

Answer 3

The code is degenerate so one amino acid can be coded for by more than one triplet
There is a start codon at the start of all polypeptide chain and an stop codon at the end of polypeptide chain these are later removed before polypeptide is finished
The dna strands are anti parallel and are read in a specific direction
The dna code is universal and the same amino acids code for same triplet in different organism
The mRNA has some introns which need to be removed as they are non coding and the exams are coding parts of the mRNA
It is read in a non overlapping way do each base is only read once