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What is a degenerate code in biology?
A code in which several code words have the same meaning. The genetic code is degenerate because there are many instances in which different codons specify the same amino acid. A genetic code in which some amino acids may each be encoded by more than one codon.
What is degenerate code quizlet?
Degenerate code is the redundancy of the genetic code, exhibited as the multiplicity of three-codon combinations specifying an amino acid.
What is a degenerate genetic code example?
As well known, the genetic code is degenerate mainly at the third codon position, for example GGN, GCN and GUN, 4 codons each, code for Gly, Ala and Val, respectively (Figure 1). However, it is totally unknown about the reason why the genetic code is degenerate.
What does degenerate DNA mean?
What is degeneracy genetic code?
Degeneracy or redundancy of codons is the redundancy of the genetic code, exhibited as the multiplicity of three-base pair codon combinations that specify an amino acid. The degeneracy of the genetic code is what accounts for the existence of synonymous mutations.
Why is the genetic code said to be degenerate group of answer choices?
The genetic code is a degenerate code, which means that there is redundancy so that most amino acids are encoded by more than one triplet combination (codon). Although it is a redundant code, it is not an ambiguous code: under normal circumstances, a given codon encodes one and only one amino acid.
What is the importance of degenerate code in gene expression?
Degeneracy is believed to be a cellular mechanism to reduce the negative impact of random mutations. Codons that specify the same amino acid typically only differ by one nucleotide.
What is meant by degenerate sites?
Terminology. A position of a codon is said to be a n-fold degenerate site if only n of four possible nucleotides (A, C, G, T) at this position specify the same amino acid.
What is meant by the degeneracy of the genetic code quizlet?
The degeneracy of the genetic code means that an amino acid may be coded for by more than one codon. However, a single codon can only ever specify one amino acid. A DNA sequence produces a mutant protein in which several amino acids in the middle of the protein differ from the normal protein.
What causes a genetic code to degenerate?
Genes are used to make mRNA by the process of transcription; mRNA is used to synthesize proteins by the process of translation. The genetic code is degenerate because 64 triplet codons in mRNA specify only 20 amino acids and three nonsense codons. Almost every species on the planet uses the same genetic code.
What is degeneracy microbiology?
Degeneracy means a mutation altering one base in a codon is unlikely to alter the amino acid structure of the encoded protein, because the codon is likely to still encode the same amino acid. This makes the genetic code more fault-tolerant to point mutations.
What is a degenerate function?
A limiting case in which a class of object changes its nature so as to belong to another, usually simpler, class. For example, the point is a degenerate case of the circle as the radius approaches 0, and the circle is a degenerate form of an ellipse as the eccentricity approaches 0.