Final answer:
The genetic code was deciphered through meticulous experiments that translated synthetic mRNAs in vitro. Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich J. Matthaei were pivotal in decoding the first triplet, and further research connected 61 codons to specific amino acids. This breakthrough has led to the advanced fields of genetic engineering and synthetic biology today.
Step-by-step explanation:
Deciphering the genetic code was a momentous event in scientific history, akin to translating a secret language. Key to this discovery was the work by scientists who fractionated E. coli and conducted in vitro translation experiments. Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich J. Matthaei led the charge by decoding the first triplet, demonstrating that it corresponded to a specific amino acid.
The genetic code itself connects 64 RNA triplets, or codons, to 20 amino acids and signalizes where proteins synthesis should begin and end. Of these, 61 codons encode for the amino acids; the remaining three are stop codons, signaling the end of protein synthesis. Scientists translated synthetic mRNAs in a controlled laboratory setting and sequenced the resulting polypeptides to discern the meaning of each codon.
Modern understandings of the genetic code, descended from the pioneering works of Francis Crick, have since blossomed into complex fields like genetic engineering and synthetic biology. These fields exploit the code to incorporate noncanonical amino acids into proteins, thus expanding the genetic lexicon in unprecedented ways.