NEETZoologyMolecular Basis of Inheritance
What was the challenge in decoding the genetic code?
Options
- ADetermining the structure of DNA
- BFinding the complementarity between nucleotides and amino acids
- CDeciding the number of nucleotides required to code for amino acids
- DDeciphering the combination of nucleotides to code for all 20 amino acids
Correct answer
D. Deciphering the combination of nucleotides to code for all 20 amino acids
Step-by-step solution
If determining the biochemical nature of genetic material and the structure of DNA was very exciting, the proposition and deciphering of genetic code were most challenging. In a very true sense, it required involvement of scientists from several disciplines – physicists, organic chemists, biochemists and geneticists. It was George Gamow, a physicist, who argued that since there are only 4 bases and if they have to code for 20 amino acids, the code should constitute a combination of bases. He suggested that in order