The genetic code is degenerate. Amino acids are encoded by either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 triplet codons. An interesting question is whether the number of triplet codes for a given amino acid is in any way correlated with the frequency with which that amino acid appears in proteins. That is, is the genetic code optimized for its intended use? Some approximations of the frequency of appearance of nine amino acids in proteins in E. coli are given in the following:

How would you proceed with your analysis if you wanted to pursue this problem further?

M. Klemke et al. (2001) discovered an interesting coding phenomenon in which an exon within a neurologic hormone receptor gene in mammals appears to produce two different protein entities (and ALEX). The following is the DNA sequence of the exon's end derived from a rat.

  5'-gtcccaaccatgcccaccgatcttccgcctgcttctgaagATGCGGGCCCAG

The lowercase letters represent the initial coding portion for the protein, and the uppercase letters indicate the portion where the ALEX entity is initiated. (For simplicity, and to correspond with the RNA coding dictionary, it is customary to represent the coding (non-template) strand of the DNA segment.)

Convert the coding DNA sequence to the coding RNA sequence.

M. Klemke et al. (2001) discovered an interesting coding phenomenon in which an exon within a neurologic hormone receptor gene in mammals appears to produce two different protein entities (and ALEX). The following is the DNA sequence of the exon's end derived from a rat.

 5'-gtcccaaccatgcccaccgatcttccgcctgcttctgaagATGCGGGCCCAG

The lowercase letters represent the initial coding portion for the protein, and the uppercase letters indicate the portion where the ALEX entity is initiated. (For simplicity, and to correspond with the RNA coding dictionary, it is customary to represent the coding (non-template) strand of the DNA segment.)

Locate the initiator codon within the ALEX segment. Are the two initiator codons in frame?

The genetic code is degenerate. Amino acids are encoded by either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 triplet codons. An interesting question is whether the number of triplet codes for a given amino acid is in any way correlated with the frequency with which that amino acid appears in proteins. That is, is the genetic code optimized for its intended use? Some approximations of the frequency of appearance of nine amino acids in proteins in E. coli are given in the following:

Devise a way to graphically compare the two sets of information (data).

M. Klemke et al. (2001) discovered an interesting coding phenomenon in which an exon within a neurologic hormone receptor gene in mammals appears to produce two different protein entities (and ALEX). The following is the DNA sequence of the exon's end derived from a rat.

 5'-gtcccaaccatgcccaccgatcttccgcctgcttctgaagATGCGGGCCCAG

The lowercase letters represent the initial coding portion for the protein, and the uppercase letters indicate the portion where the ALEX entity is initiated. (For simplicity, and to correspond with the RNA coding dictionary, it is customary to represent the coding (non-template) strand of the DNA segment.)

Locate the initiator codon within the XLαs segment.

The genetic code is degenerate. Amino acids are encoded by either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 triplet codons. An interesting question is whether the number of triplet codes for a given amino acid is in any way correlated with the frequency with which that amino acid appears in proteins. That is, is the genetic code optimized for its intended use? Some approximations of the frequency of appearance of nine amino acids in proteins in E. coli are given in the following:

Analyze your data to determine what, if any, correlations can be drawn between the relative frequency of amino acids making up proteins and the number of codons for each. Write a paragraph that states your specific and general conclusions.

The genetic code is degenerate. Amino acids are encoded by either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 triplet codons. An interesting question is whether the number of triplet codes for a given amino acid is in any way correlated with the frequency with which that amino acid appears in proteins. That is, is the genetic code optimized for its intended use? Some approximations of the frequency of appearance of nine amino acids in proteins in E. coli are given in the following:

Determine how many triplets encode each amino acid.