Question

The genetic code is said to be triplet code. What does this mean and why is it important?

Answer 1

There are 20 amino acids and there are only four nucleotides present. Genetic code is coded genetic message or information stored in DNA and mRNA in the form of nucleotide sequence.

Complete step by step answer:
Genetic code is a complex coding system, composed of a series of coding units, called codons.A codon is a nucleotide triplet, it is formed of a set of three nucleotides and hence it is called a triplet codon.DNA and mRNA contain only four kinds of nucleotides to code for the 20 proteinogenic amino acids.If the codons are presumed to be singlets, there will be only four codons. If the codons are presumed to be doublets, there will be only sixteen codons.
Since the same codon cannot code for more than one amino acid, singlet or doublet codons cannot satisfy the code for twenty proteins that are present.If the codons are triplets, there will be 64 codons, which is more than enough combination to code for 20 amino acids.

Thus the genetic code is a triplet code.

Additional information:
Among the 64 codons, 61 codons are sense codons, the ones which code for a particular amino acid and the remaining three are nonsense codons or termination codons or stop codons, these codons are the indication for the termination of the translation process.

Note:
More than one triplet code will code for an amino acid except for methionine and tryptophan. The same code cannot code for more than one amino acid as it might lead in the undesired protein production thereby causing abnormalities in the normal functioning.