Question

What is a codon?

Answer 1

A codon is a sequence of three consecutive nucleotides in a DNA or mRNA molecule that specifies a particular amino acid or a signal during protein synthesis. Because there are four different nitrogenous bases (A, U, G, and C), they can be arranged into 64 unique triplet combinations. Of these, 61 codons code for the 20 amino acids used to build proteins, while the remaining three act as “Stop” signals to end the process. The ribosome reads these codons one by one during translation to ensure amino acids are linked in the precise order dictated by the genetic instructions.