DNA Code

DNA code translates information from nucleic acid that is coded by the order of bases to the order of 20 amino acids that determines protein’s structure. Letters of the code are: A, U(T), G, C. The unit of the code (codon) are three succeeding bases. 4*4*4 – there 64 possible „words” in DNA code and only 20 amino acids. Thus one amino acid can be encoded by more than one codon (code in degenerated).

DNA code is read by succeeding triplets – it is non punctuated (following codons are not separated by a sign that could act as space separating words in a sentence) and non overlapping (if codons overlap the first triplet would fix possible next triplets and restrict possible sequence of amino acids in protein). Indications that enable finding out where is the beginning and where is the end of information about protein (like capital letter and dot in sentences) are stop and start codons.