What is genetic code degeneracy and give an example?

What is genetic code degeneracy and give an example?

• A. One codon codes for one amino acid; there is no degeneracy.
• B. Degeneracy means a codon can code for more than one amino acid.
• C. No codons share amino acids; degeneracy does not occur.
• D. Multiple codons can code for the same amino acid; for example Leu is encoded by six codons (UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, CUG).

Answer: (D)

Genetic code degeneracy means that more than one codon can specify the same amino acid. There are 64 possible codons but only 20 amino acids (plus stop signals), so many amino acids are encoded by several different codons. For example, Leucine is specified by six codons: UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, and CUG. This redundancy helps protect against some mutations and allows tRNAs to recognize multiple codons for the same amino acid. The other ideas would imply that a single codon codes for multiple amino acids or that no amino acids share codons, which isn’t how the genetic code works.

Genetic code degeneracy means that more than one codon can specify the same amino acid. There are 64 possible codons but only 20 amino acids (plus stop signals), so many amino acids are encoded by several different codons. For example, Leucine is specified by six codons: UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, and CUG. This redundancy helps protect against some mutations and allows tRNAs to recognize multiple codons for the same amino acid. The other ideas would imply that a single codon codes for multiple amino acids or that no amino acids share codons, which isn’t how the genetic code works.