Cells are like fine tuned machines. They work to maintain a balance by removing what is not needed and obtaining what is. For example, if a particular enzyme such as helicase is needed, the nucleotide sequence related to that protein will be exposed and the protein made. The nucleotide bases below are an example of a segment that would be used to produce a protein. Which protein chain will be formed from this nucleotide segment? NOTE: A codon chart is provided below.
The genetic code defines the base sequences on the mRNA and their corresponding amino acids.
The code comprises of 64 codons that code for 20 amino acids.
According to the genetic code, the codon AUG is known as the start codon. This codes for methionine and is the starting point for translation of mRNA sequence into protein.
UUU codes for the amino acid phenylalanine.
GCC codes for the amino acid alanine.
AAC codes for asparagine.
UGA is a stop codon and it terminates translation.
