Which property of the genetic code indicates that a single amino acid can be encoded by more than one distinct codon? (Hard)
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C. Degeneracy
- Step 1: There are 64 codons (61 sense codons) and only 20 standard proteinogenic amino acids. Step 2. Most amino acids are specified by multiple synonymous codons (e.g. leucine and arginine have 6 codons each), termed degeneracy. Answer: Degeneracy (redundancy). Why not the others: Universality means same codons in all organisms; non-overlapping means each nucleotide is read once; the genetic code is unambiguous (one codon never codes for multiple different amino acids).
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