Standard genetic code

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The standard genetic code is the list of codons, made up of triplet bases on RNA, that provide instructions for which amino acid to add to a growing protein chain. The codon for the amino acid methionine is the start codon in mRNA. These codons are made to interact with the corresponding anti-codon in transfer-RNA molecules (tRNA). Although some amino acids have only one codon, such as AUG for methionine, other amino acids are indicated by several codons. Thus, proline has four codons, CCU, CCC, CCA and CCG. This means there is a one-to-one correspondance in going from codon to amino acid, but not from an amino acid to codons. There is only one start codon, AUG, which serves as the codon for methionine, but there are three stop codons, UAA, UAG and UGA.

UUU Phe UCU Ser UAU TYR UGU Cys
UUC Phe UCC Ser UAC Tyr UGC Cys
UUA Leu UCA Ser UAA Stop UGA Stop
UUG Leu UCG Ser UAG Stop UGG Trp
CUU Leu CCU Pro CAU His CGU Arg
CUC Leu CCC Pro CAC His CGC Arg
CUA Leu CCA Pro CAA Gln CGA Arg
CUG Leu CCG Pro CAG Gln CGG Arg
AUU Ile ACU Thr AAU Asn AGU Ser
AUC Ile ACC Thr AAC Asn AGC Ser
AUA Ile ACA Thr AAA Lys AGA Arg
AUG Met ACG Thr AAG Lys AGG Arg
GUU Val GCU Ala GAU Asp GGU Gly
GUC Val GCC Ala GAC Asp GGC Gly
GUA Val GCA Ala GAA Glu GGA Gly
GUG Val GCG Ala GAG Glu GGG Gly