The single-letter amino acid abbreviations provide a fun way to write secret messages using the genetic code. For example, the amino acid arginine can be abbreviated Arg or R. This just means that a given amino acid can be encoded by more than one DNA codon sequence.įor simplicity, individual amino acids are often abbreviated using one or three letter abbreviations. Each base can be in any position, which yields 4 3, or 64, possible combinations, so there is some redundancy between the 20 amino acids. Since it takes three DNA bases to designate an amino acid, there are enough combinations of the four different bases to represent all of the amino acids, as well as three stop codons that indicate when the protein ends. Each amino acid is encoded by a sequence of three DNA bases, called a codon. These four nucleotides (sometimes referred to as bases) give the instructions for the 20 different amino acids that compose proteins. This is commonly referred to as the genetic code.ĭNA is a chain of four different nucleotides (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine), often abbreviated A, T, C, and G. The order of the amino acids in the chain is determined by the DNA sequence of the gene that encodes for it. Proteins are long chains of individual amino acid subunits. Trade strands with a friend and see if you can decode each other’s secret message! Don’t forget to include the proper start and stop codons in your sequence. Make your DNA strand by stringing the beads so that the colors match the order of the DNA sequence that you wrote down. Add ATG to the beginning of your sequence, and pick one of the three stop codons for the end of your sequence. They end when the DNA encodes one of the three stop codons. All proteins start with a methionine amino acid residue that is encoded by the DNA sequence ATG. Then, use the table to write down the DNA sequence that encodes for those amino acids. Determine what amino acids the letters in your phrase correspond to by looking up the one-letter amino acid abbreviations in the amino acid codon table. These letters are not abbreviations for any of the amino acids. Make sure it can be spelled or sounded out without using the letters B, J, O, U, X, or Z. Think of a word or short phrase that you want to encode into your DNA strand.
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