the nature of the genetic code

sequence of bases along its DNA contains thousands of sections called genes or cistrons each gene codes for a specific polypeptide universal 3 base sequence of triplet codes for each amino acid non-overlapping

some amino acids are coded for by more than one base triplet more possible combinations of triplet codes than there are amino acids not all base triplets code for amino acids some used to tell ribosome when to stop production of a protein, stop signals, end of mRNA start signals, code for methionine