Internet Encyclopedia of Science
GENETICS & HEREDITY
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codon



codons
The basic unit of the genetic code. It consists of a nucleotide triplet in DNA or messenger RNA (mRNA) which codes for a specific amino acid. As there are 64 possible codons but only 20 amino acids in terrestrial organisms, some amino acids have more than one codon (known as degenerative codons). There are also "stop" codons which serve to terminate a translation.


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