Genetic code

The three-letter code that translates nucleic acid sequence into protein sequence. The relationships between the nucleotide base-pair triplets of a messenger RNA molecule and the 20 amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins. See Base pair, Nucleic acid, Nucleotide.

The correspondence between the set of 64 possible nucleotide triplets and the amino acids and stop codons that they specify. See annex 3.

The sequence of nucleotides, coded in triplets (codons) along the mRNA, that determines the sequence of amino acids in protein synthesis. A gene's DNA sequence can be used to predict the mRNA sequence, and the genetic code can in turn be used to predict the amino acid sequence.