An in-vitro translation system is supplied with a synthetic mRNA containing only 'UUU' repeats (poly-U sequence). The resulting polypeptide synthesized in this artificial system is found to contain an alternating sequence of two different amino acids, Phenylalanine and Serine. Which fundamental property of the natural genetic code is violated in this artificial system?

Step-by-step solution

In the natural genetic code, one codon codes for only one specific amino acid. This property is known as being unambiguous and specific. In the given artificial system, a single type of codon (UUU) is resulting in the incorporation of two different amino acids (Phenylalanine and Serine). This means one codon is coding for more than one amino acid, which directly violates the unambiguous and specific nature of the genetic code. Degeneracy refers to multiple codons coding for the same amino acid, which is the opposit