Imagine that you discover three different bacterial species on a meteorite. Each species contains genetic material that is not DNA, but the genetic material of each species contains four bases. Each species has a different number of amino acids. Use the total number of amino acids per species to determine the minimum codon length for each species.

Species A: 2 amino acids

Codon length?

Species B: 56 amino acids

Codon length?

Species C: 162 amino acids

Codon length?

Species A: 2

Species B: 56

Species C: 162

Explanation:

Codons are sequence of 3 purine or pyrimidine bases that codes for amino acids. Each codon in mRNA eventually binds with anticodon in tRNA during protein synthesis and gets translated into their respective amino acids. Hence, the number of amino acids in each of the species represents the minimum number of codons in each species.

Therefore, species A with 2 amino acids will have a minimum codon length of 2, species B with 56 amino acids will have minimum of 56 codons while species C with 162 amino acids will have minimum codon length of 162.