Question

How many amino acids will be coded by the given sequence of ribonucleotides, if the 15${}^{th}$ base is substituted by G?
'5AUGGUGUAGAGGUACCAU3'

• A. Four
• B. Five
• C. Six
• D. Two

Answer 1

The correct option is D Two

Amino acid synthesis stops when any STOP codon is encountered by ribosome. There are total 3 stop codons, UAG, UGA, UAA. Codons are always read in triplets. So the given ribonucleotide sequence will be read as: AUG,GUG, UAG, and so on. Notice that the third codon (UAG) is a stop codon, so the protein synthesis will stop at the third codon itself. It doesn't matter if the 15th base is substituted by G or not, the given sequence will code for only two amino acids, AUG (methionine) and GUG (Methionine)

So, the correct answer is 'Two'.