A codon is made of three bases (nucleotides).

Quick Scoop

  • In DNA and RNA, a codon is a sequence of 3 adjacent nucleotides, such as AUG or GAA.
  • These 3-base codons are read during translation to specify amino acids or to signal start/stop in protein synthesis.
  • Because codons use three bases and there are four possible bases, there are 64 different codons in the standard genetic code.

In short: when someone asks “how many bases make up a codon,” the answer is always three.

TL;DR: One codon = 3 bases.

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