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What’s an Anticodon?

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Proteins are produced through translation, where DNA is transcribed into RNA and then translated into proteins using three types of RNA: mRNA, rRNA, and tRNA. Anticodons ensure amino acids are linked in the correct order. DNA is read using triplet codes called codons, with each codon corresponding to an amino acid. Each codon is complementary to an anticodon found on a tRNA molecule. There are 64 potential codons to encode for 20 different amino acids, with each amino acid represented by more than one codon and anticodon. The first two bases in the triplet codon are identical or similar for each amino acid, preventing errors in protein synthesis.

Inside cells, proteins are produced through the process of translation. During this process, the DNA in the cell nucleus is transcribed into RNA, which is then translated to produce protein molecules from the free amino acids present in the cell. There are three types of RNA involved in translation, which are: messenger RNA (mRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and transfer RNA (tRNA). The role of the anticodon is to ensure that the amino acids in the protein to be translated are linked together in the correct order, to ensure that the protein functions properly. Without anticodons, protein synthesis could not take place.

DNA is made up of four nucleotide bases, called A, T, C and G. The combination of these bases makes up our genetic code. DNA is read using triplet codes, which are sets of three DNA bases, called codons. Each codon corresponds to an amino acid, which forms the building blocks of every protein in the body. An anticodon is a region of transfer RNA, or tRNA, that is complementary to a codon on the mRNA strand being translated.

To make proteins in cells, DNA must be “read” and proteins must be synthesized. To do this, DNA is first transcribed into messenger RNA, or mRNA, a type of genetic information that is the blueprint for protein. mRNA also contains triplet codes, called codons, which give the sequence of amino acids within each specific protein. Each codon is complementary to an anticodon found on a tRNA molecule. The tRNA anticodon determines which amino acid is led to be attached to the growing protein.

There are four nucleotides in RNA which correspond to the nucleotides in DNA. They are designated by A, U, C, and G. Each codon is made up of three nucleotides, so the number of potential codons to encode for an amino acid is 64. Since there are 64 possible codons to represent only 20 different amino acids in the body, each amino acid is represented by more than one codon and anticodon. The codon for each amino is well known.

Although more than one codon can correspond to a single amino acid, the first two bases in the triplet codon are identical or similar for each amino acid. For example, two codons coding for the amino acid leucine are UUA and UUG, which differ only in the third base of the triplet. This is a safeguard to prevent errors in protein synthesis. Since the anticodon must “read” the codon to bring in the appropriate amino acid, as long as the first two parts of the triplet code are correct, the appropriate amino acid will be added to the protein. This theory is known as the oscillation hypothesis and is commonly accepted to describe the interaction between the codon and the anticodon in all known organisms.

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