Question

If the following is the sequence of nucleotides in mRNA, predict the sequence of amino acid coded by it:
AUG UUU UUC UUC UUU UUU UUC.
Can you now correlate which two properties of genetic code you have learned?

Answer 1

The nucleotide sequence occurs in the form of triplets or codons and each codon codes for unique amino acids. The 64 possible codons codes for 20 essential amino acids

Complete answer:
Genetic codes are the set of rules according to which the nucleotide sequences are translated into the amino acids sequence of proteins. The AUG is the start codon and codes for methionine. So the sequence of amino acids coded by the above nucleotide sequence of mRNA is:
Methionine phenylalanine phenylalanine phenylalanine phenylalanine phenylalanine phenylalanine

The two properties of the genetic code used in the above sequence are:
Degeneracy: the genetic code is degenerate which means that some amino acids each are encoded by more than one codon.
Example: UUU and UUC both codes for the same amino acids i.e. phenylalanine

Unambiguous: the genetic code is unambiguous means that one codon codes for only one amino acid.
Example: the code UUU can code only for one amino acid phenylalanine and does not code for any other amino acid

Non-Overlapping and Non-Punctuated: The genetic code is read sequentially without the use of a comma and is read continuously from left to right.

Note: The codons consist of 3 bases i.e. triplet. There are 64 codons out of which 61 codons code for 20 amino acids out of which the one codon AUG is the start codon and codes for methionine. The other three codons i.e. UAG, UAA, and UGA are the stop codons and do not code for any amino acids.