The triplet code allows many amino acids to be specified by more than one codon.Such a code is said to be
A)replicative.
B)synonymous.
C)duplicative.
D)universal.
E)degenerate.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The term "degenerate" in genetics refers to the fact that there is more than one codon that can specify a given amino acid. The triplet code is degenerate because there are 64 possible codons (4 nucleotides in three positions), but only 20 amino acids. Therefore, most amino acids are specified by multiple codons. The term "synonymous" refers to codons that specify the same amino acid, which is a result of the degeneracy of the triplet code. However, this term does not fully capture the complexity of the degenerate code. The other answer choices are not accurate descriptions of the triplet code.

The Triplet Code Allows Many Amino Acids to Be Specified