Given that the TCG codon could efficiently instruct the ribosome to add the unconventional amino acid to a desired protein, the scientists reasoned that it might also add the new subunit to other ...

Following this discovery, Nirenberg, Philip Leder, and Gobind Khorana identified the rest of the genetic code and fully described each three-letter codon and its corresponding amino acid.

Hence, the resulting products provided clues that the researchers could use to deduce potential codon–amino acid relationships. For example, when A and C were mixed with polynucleotide ...

For example, the amino acid leucine is coded for by six different codons. This degeneracy provides a layer of protection against mutations, as some mutations in the third nucleotide of a codon may not ...