Final answer:
To make 4 amino acids, we need at least 4 codons, but more may be required depending on the specific amino acids.
Step-by-step explanation:
The genetic code consists of a sequence of three nitrogen bases in an mRNA strand known as a codon. Each codon corresponds to one amino acid. To determine how many codons are needed to make 4 amino acids, we need to consider that each amino acid is encoded by more than one codon. There are a total of 64 possible codons, but only 61 of them code for amino acids. Therefore, we need at least 4 codons to make 4 amino acids, but depending on the specific amino acids, more than 4 codons may be required.