Question

The biotech company Medicago expresses viral genes in tobacco plants to generate flu vaccines. In the genetic code, the codons CAU and CAC both encode amino acid histidine. This ability to interchange multiple codons for a single amino acid is an example of how the genetic code is __________.

Answer 1

Degenerate.

Step-by-step explanation:

The genetic code has following properties -

• It is a triplet codon.
• It is non-overlapping.
• It is comma-less.
• It is non-ambiguous.
• It is degenerate.
• It has stop and start codons.

Out of these properties the Property of Degeneracy has been used in the situation mentioned in the question. Due to degeneracy of the genetic code, more than one codons can code for a single amino acid. Property of degeneracy in the code minimizes the mutational lethality.