How many bases would be needed to code for the following amino acid chain: proline, serine, histidine, threonine, stop?

Answer 1

To determine how many nucleotide bases are needed to code for the specified amino acid chain, we can follow these steps:

1. Identify the amino acids: The amino acids are proline, serine, histidine, threonine, and a stop codon.

2. Amino acid to codon conversion: Each amino acid is coded by a specific codon, which is a sequence of three nucleotide bases in mRNA. For the stop codon, it also takes three bases.

3. Amino acids and their codons:

   • Proline (Pro) is coded by the codons CCU, CCC, CCA, or CCG.
   • Serine (Ser) is coded by the codons UCU, UCC, UCA, UCG, AGU, or AGC.
   • Histidine (His) is coded by the codons CAU or CAC.
   • Threonine (Thr) is coded by the codons ACU, ACC, ACA, or ACG.
   • Stop codon is coded by UAA, UAG, or UGA.

4. Total bases needed: Each of the four amino acids in the chain requires three bases, and the stop codon also requires three bases:

   • For 4 amino acids (3 bases each): \(4 \times 3 = 12\) bases
   • For the stop codon (3 bases): \(1 \times 3 = 3\) bases

5. Overall total:

   • Total bases = 12 (for the amino acids) + 3 (for the stop codon) = 15 bases.

Therefore, 15 nucleotide bases are needed to code for the amino acid chain proline, serine, histidine, threonine, and a stop codon.