How many unique mRNA codons can be constructed from the four different RNA nucleotides?
A)four
B)12
C)16
D)61
E)64

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

There are four different RNA nucleotides (A, U, G, C). Each codon is made up of three nucleotides. Therefore, the total number of unique codons that can be constructed is 4 x 4 x 4 = 64. However, three of these codons (UAA, UAG, UGA) do not code for any amino acid and are known as stop codons, leaving a total of 61 unique codons that code for the 20 different amino acids.

How Many Unique MRNA Codons Can Be Constructed from the Four