What is the maximum number of amino acids that could be coded for by a sextion of mrna with the sequence guucagaacugu?

Answer 1

A codon is three bases long - so this section of mRNA would have 4 codons; UGA-UUC-AGU-AAC.

Each codon relates to a specific amino acid (but several codons can code for the same amino acid, for example both UUU and UUC code for the amino acid Phenylalanine).

Normally if you have four codons, such as this section of mRNA, the maximum number of amino acids you could have would be four. However, the first codon in this section, UGA, is actually a STOP codon. This means that when the ribosome reaches this codon, no further amino acids will be joined.

This means that no amino acids could be coded for with this section of mRNA. (If the order of the codons was reversed, making the STOP codon last, then the answer would be three).

Answer 2

The maximum number of amino acids that could be coded for by a section of mRNA is determined by the reading frame. For the mRNA sequence "guucagaacugu," if we assume a start codon (AUG) at the beginning and use the genetic code to translate each codon to an amino acid, we can identify the potential amino acids until a stop codon is reached. In this case, the sequence could potentially code for at most three amino acids before a stop codon is encountered.

Answer 3

guu cag aac ugu contains 4 codons of 3 bases. So only the maximum number of amino acids that could be coded is 4. Since 1 codon codes for 1 amino acid.

Answer 4

5, since you have 5 separate codons, and two individual bases.

Answer 5

There would be four since they are read in groups of three and you do not have a start codon (AUG) nor a stop codon (UAA, UAG or UGA).

Answer 6

4