The Intriguing Genetic Code: How Do Three Bases Specify an Amino Acid?

How does the genetic code work in relation to specifying amino acids?

Based on the data, how many possible combinations are created by arranging three nitrogen bases into a codon?

Answer:

The genetic code works by arranging three nitrogen bases into a codon, creating 64 (4³) possible combinations which correspond to amino acids, used for protein synthesis.

In the genetic code, three consecutive bases specify an amino acid, creating 4³ (= 64) possible codon code words. A codon is a group of three nitrogen bases in nucleic acids that makes up a code "word" of the genetic code. This correspondence between the triplet codons and amino acids facilitates the process by which cells synthesize proteins.

The genetic code is highly structured there are four different nucleotides which can be arranged in codons of three bases each. Given that we have adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and either thymine (T) in DNA or uracil (U) in RNA, there are 64 different combinations (4x4x4). Out of these, three code for termination signals (stop codons), and the remaining 61 correspond to the 20 common amino acids with redundancy, meaning some amino acids are encoded by more than one codon.