A protein contains 35 amino acids. How many nucleotides would be found in the mRNA code for this protein?

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All right. Hello everyone. So this question says that a geneticist is studying a particular gene that codes for an enzyme consisting of 150 amino acids. How many nucleotides are present in the MRN A sequence coding for this enzyme option? A says 456 B says 300 C says 756 and D says 600. So first and foremost, recall a translation is the process by which MRN A is converted into a protein. Now, the MRN A itself is divided into codons which are triplets of MRN A nucleotides. Each coon codes for either one amino acid or a start or stop signal. So going back to the information given if we have 150 amino acids in this enzyme, then what we do to find the number of nucleotides is multiply the number of amino acids by three because recall that there are three nucleotides per codon which each results in one amino acid. So 150 multiplied by three equals 450 nucleotides resulting in amino acids. But there's one important detail that you cannot forget because here we're talking about the MRN A sequence as a whole. And so what that means is that the MRN A sequence has to have a start code on and a stop code on that is to control translation. So to this 450 we have to add a total of six nucleotides, three from the start code on and three from the stop code on. So 450 added to six equals 456 total nucleotides and 456 corresponds to option A. So that is our correct answer and there you have it. So with that being said, thank you so very much for watching and I hope you found this helpful.

A protein contains 35 amino acids. How many nucleotides would be found in the mRNA code for this protein?

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Key Concepts

Amino Acids and Proteins

Genetic Code

mRNA Synthesis