Most proteins have more leucine than histidine residues, but more histidine than tryptophan residues. Correlate the number of codons for these three amino acids with this information.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Explain the correlation. Answer: Yes, the number of codons for leucine, histidine, and tryptophan residues correlates with their occurrence in proteins. This is due to the fact that the higher the number of codons for an amino acid in the genetic code, the more likely it is to be present in proteins at a higher frequency. In this case, leucine has 6 codons, histidine has 2 codons, and tryptophan has 1 codon, resulting in the order of frequency: Leucine > Histidine > Tryptophan.

Step by step solution

01

Identify the codons for each amino acid

Refer to the codon table and identify the codons for leucine, histidine, and tryptophan. The codons for leucine are: UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, and CUG. The codons for histidine are: CAU and CAC, and for tryptophan, only UGG.
02

Count the number of codons for each amino acid

Count the codons for each amino acid identified in Step 1:\[Leucine: 6\]\[Histidine: 2\]\[Tryptophan: 1\]
03

Correlate the number of codons to the occurrence of residues

It's stated that most proteins have more leucine than histidine residues and more histidine than tryptophan residues. The number of codons for each amino acid gives an indication of the probability of encountering that amino acid, since more codons increase the chances of encoding a particular amino acid during translation. Comparing the number of codons from Step 2, we see that the order of frequency for these amino acids correlates with the number of their respective codons:\[Leucine (6) > Histidine (2) > Tryptophan (1)\] This confirms that the number of codons for each amino acid correlates with the occurrence of these residues in most proteins. The higher the number of codons for an amino acid in the genetic code, the more likely it is to be present in proteins at a higher frequency.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

Present an overview of various forms of posttranscriptional processing in eukaryotes. For each, provide an example.

In a mixed copolymer experiment, messages were created with either \(4 / 5 \mathrm{C}: 1 / 5 \mathrm{A}\) or \(4 / 5 \mathrm{A}: 1 / 5 \mathrm{C}\). These messages yielded proteins with the following amino acid compositions. Using these data, predict the most specific coding composition for each amino acid.

In this chapter, we focused on the genetic code and the transcription of genetic information stored in DNA into complementary RNA molecules. Along the way, we found many opportunities to consider the methods and reasoning by which much of this information was acquired. From the explanations given in the chapter, what answers would you propose to the following fundamental questions: (a) Why did geneticists believe, even before direct experimental evidence was obtained, that the genetic code would turn out to be composed of triplet sequences and be nonoverlapping? Experimentally, how were these suppositions shown to be correct? (b) What experimental evidence provided the initial insights into the compositions of codons encoding specific amino acids? (c) How were the specific sequences of triplet codes determined experimentally? (d) How were the experimentally derived triplet codon assignments verified in studies using bacteriophage MS2? (e) What evidence do we have that the expression of the information encoded in DNA involves an RNA intermediate? (f) How do we know that the initial transcript of a eukaryotic gene contains noncoding sequences that must be removed before accurate translation into proteins can occur?

Sydney Brenner argued that the code was nonoverlapping because he considered that coding restrictions would occur if it were overlapping. A second major argument against an overlapping code involved the effect of a single nucleotide change. In an overlapping code, how many adjacent amino acids would be affected by a point mutation? In a nonoverlapping code, how many amino acid(s) would be affected?

Substitution RNA editing is known to involve either C-to-U or A-to-I conversions. What common chemical event accounts for each?

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Biology Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free