The codon, a sequence of three nucleotides in DNA or RNA, acts like an "instruction manual" for protein synthesis, telling the cell which of the 20 natural amino acids to add to a growing protein ...

During that same year, Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei began deciphering the genetic code, and they determined that the codon UUU specifically represented the amino acid phenylalanine.

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 ...

Each codon corresponds to a specific amino acid. Certain codons tell the translation machinery where to start and stop. But sometimes, like a rogue driver skipping a red light, the machinery skips ...