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The '''genetic code''' is a translation table for how triplets of adjacent [[nucleotide|bases]], called ''[[codon|codons]]'', specify [[amino acid]]s in [[protein]] biosynthesis. In this process, the bases in the [[DNA]] from a gene are first copied into a molecule of [[mRNA]] during [[transcription]], certain sections of the [[mRNA]] are spliced out, and then amino acids are linked to it by molecules of [[tRNA]] during [[translation]]. Some codons do not specify an amino acid, called STOP codons, which as a result end the translation process.
Nearly all living things use the same genetic code. The standard version is given in the following tables, which show what amino acid each of the 4<sup>3</sup> = 64 possible codons specify (Table 1), and what codons specify each of the 20 amino acids involved in translation (Table 2). For instance, GAU codes for the amino acid Asp ([[asparagine]]), and Cys ([[cysteine]]) is coded for by the codons UGU and UGC. These are called forward and reverse codon tables, respectively. The bases in the table are [[adenine]], [[cytosine]], [[guanine]] and [[uracil]], which are used in the [[mRNA]]; in the [[DNA]], [[thymine]] takes the place of uracil.
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'''Table 1 :''' Codon table. This table illustrates the 64 possible codon triplets.
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<sup>1</sup>The AUG codon both codes for methionine and serves as an initiation site; the first AUG in an [[mRNA]]'s coding region will be the site where translation into protein begins.
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'''Table 2 :''' Reverse codon table. This table shows the 20 amino acids used in proteins, together with the codons that code for them.
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In classical genetics, the STOP codons were given names - UAG was amber, UGA was opal, and UAA was ocher. These names were originally the names of the specific genes in which mutation of each of these stop codons was first detected. Translation starts with a chain initiation or START codon, but unlike STOP codons these are not sufficient by themselves to begin the process; nearby initiation sequences are also required to induce transcription into mRNA and binding by [[ribosome]]s. The most notable of these is AUG, which also codes for methionine. CUG and UUG, and in prokaryotes GUG and AUU, will also work.
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