Question

If the entire mRNA sequence for a polypeptide was AUGUACUCGCGACCGUAA, how many amino acids does the polypeptide have

Answer 1

Answer:

5 amino acids

Explanation:

The process of translation involves synthesizing a sequence of amino acids from a mRNA template. The mRNA molecule is read in a group of three nucleotides called CODONS. A codon specifies or codes for an amino acid.

In the question, a mRNA sequence was given as follows: AUGUACUCGCGACCGUAA. From this sequence comprising of 6 codons, 5 possible amino acids will be contained in the polypeptide encoded by this mRNA molecule as the last codon (UAA) is a STOP codon. The following are the codons in the mRNA sequence and their respective amino acids:

*AUG- methionine (met)

*UAC - tyrosine (Tyr)

*UCG - Serine (Ser)

*CGA - Arginine (Arg)

*CCG - Proline (Pro)

*UAA - Stop