BIO 315H Chapter : The Genetic Code & Translation.pdf
Document Summary
The early dna scientists were really code breakers in disguise; they designed straightforward experiments to determine how the four-base dna alphabet is converted into the 20 amino acid protein alphabet. These experiments were conducted before the advent of modern molecular biology and depended on classical genetic analysis and organic chemistry. The interaction between mrna, trna, and ribosomes will be discussed during the next lecture. Features of the genetic code may be important in your life in ways you have not thought of yet. Three nucleotides combine to form a single codon. The genetic code is degenerate because more than one codon codes for a single amino acid. Therefore, some dna mutations, but not others, result in changes in amino acid sequence. Second, the genetic code is almost universal, meaning that with few exceptions all organisms translate a dna sequence into the same protein sequence.
