A codon consists of how many nucleotides?

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Study for the Campbell Biology Concepts and Connections Test. Explore flashcards and multiple-choice questions, complete with hints and explanations. Prepare for your success!

Multiple Choice

A codon consists of how many nucleotides?

Explanation:
A codon is read as a unit of three nucleotides in mRNA. This triplet length creates 64 possible codons (4 nucleotides raised to the power of 3), which is enough to specify the 20 amino acids plus signals to stop translation. The ribosome matches each codon with a complementary tRNA anticodon to add the correct amino acid to the growing protein. If codons were only two nucleotides long, there would be only 16 possible codons, which isn’t enough to encode all amino acids and stop signals. If codons were one nucleotide long, there would be only 4 possibilities, far from sufficient. So, three nucleotides per codon best explain how the genetic code operates.

A codon is read as a unit of three nucleotides in mRNA. This triplet length creates 64 possible codons (4 nucleotides raised to the power of 3), which is enough to specify the 20 amino acids plus signals to stop translation. The ribosome matches each codon with a complementary tRNA anticodon to add the correct amino acid to the growing protein. If codons were only two nucleotides long, there would be only 16 possible codons, which isn’t enough to encode all amino acids and stop signals. If codons were one nucleotide long, there would be only 4 possibilities, far from sufficient. So, three nucleotides per codon best explain how the genetic code operates.

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