Biochemistry 2280A Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Aminoacyl-Trna, Missense Mutation, Wobble Base Pair
22 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
The genetic code spells out the amino acid sequence in 3 letter words called codons: puts it in a language framework because it is linear, but not a fool-proof definition. Codons are dependent on surrounding sequences: there are no restrictions in a non-overlapping code any aa can come after any other. One codon is pretty much independent of the adjacent codon: no gaps a. If there was a gap between every codon, that would take up extra space and would sever no function. If similar aa have similar codons, then if the codon changes by one base, we can still put a similar aa and the proteins will still have similar function. So these help maintain function of proteins should a mutation happen. Increases the chance of a functional protein in the case of a single base mutation. Serve as the vehicle that brings the aa to the growing polypeptide chain.
