Question

5 how many unique possible combinations of nucleotide bases are there to make the amino acids needed for protein synthesis? 40 20 24 64

Explanation:

Step1: Recall genetic - code concept

In protein synthesis, nucleotides form codons. Each codon is a sequence of 3 nucleotides. There are 4 types of nucleotide bases (A, T/U, C, G).

Step2: Calculate number of combinations

The number of possible combinations of \(n\) - length sequences with \(m\) options at each position is \(m^n\). Here, \(m = 4\) (nucleotide bases) and \(n=3\) (codon length). So the number of combinations is \(4^3=64\).

Answer:

64 (corresponding to the last option in the multiple - choice list)