The mitochondrial DNA helicase has 612 amino acids. What is the length of the mRNA from this protein is translated? Show your work and explain.

The answer is 1836 nucleotide bases.

It is known that three nucleotide bases in mRNA are called codon and that each codon codes for the specific amino acid. For 3 nucleotide bases in mRNA, there is 1 amino acid in a protein. So, there are 3 times more nucleotide bases in mRNA than amino acids in the protein. This can be represented mathematically:

3 nucleotide bases : 1 amino acid = x nucleotide bases : 612 amino acids

3 nucleotide bases x 612 amino acids : 1 amino acids = x nucleotide bases

x nucleotide bases = 612 x 3 nucleotide bases

x nucleotide bases = 1836 nucleotide bases.

So, mRNA long 1836 nucleotide bases will give a protein with 612 amino acids.