What is the minimum number of nucleobase "digits" required to code for the 20 different amino acids? (Groups of nucleotides, each coding for a single amino acid in a protein chain, are called "codons" by biologists.) (Hint: How many four-state "digits" are needed to represent 20 unique things?)

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Chemistry

Savannah Perez

19 April, 04:24

What is the minimum number of nucleobase "digits" required to code for the 20 different amino acids? (Groups of nucleotides, each coding for a single amino acid in a protein chain, are called "codons" by biologists.) (Hint: How many four-state "digits" are needed to represent 20 unique things?)

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Pierre Wells · Answer 1

3 "digits" are required to code for the 20 different amino acids.

This means that in order to code for one amino acid, you require a group of 3 nucleotides, which is called a 'codon'

Explanation:

If each nucleotide determined one amino acid, we could only code for four different amino acids, since DNA contains only four kinds of nucleotides.

If an amino acid were to be coded by a group of two nucleotides, the total number of diniclueotides we could get would be 4^2 = 16. This means that we could only code for 16 amino acids, which is an inferior amount than the number of amino acids required for protein synthesis (20).

If an amino acid were to be coded by a group of three nucleotides, the total number of trinucleotides we could get would be 4^3 = 64. This means that the total amount of triplets we could get is 64, which is more than enough to be able to code for the 20 different amino acids.