Genetic Code is Degenerate

Genetic Code is Degenerate

Genetic Code is Degenerate -

As mentioned previously, there are 64 possible codons in a triplet code, of which 61 have been shown to code amino acids.

Since only 20 amino acids take part in protein synthesis, it is obvious that there are many more codons than amino acid types.

Except for tryptophan and methionine, which have a single codon each, all other amino acids involved in protein synthesis have more than one codon.

Phenylalanine, tyrosine, histidine, glutamine, asparagine, lysine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and cysteine have two codons each.

Isoleucine has three codons. Valine, proline, threonine, alanine and glycine have four codons each.

Leucine, arginine and serine have six codons each.

This variability in the number of codons for different amino acids may at least partially account for the unequal distribution of the different amino acids in protein.

In general, the frequency of appearance of amino acids in proteins roughly corresponds to the number of available codons.

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