Final answer:
Codon-anticodon pairing occurs in an anti-parallel manner, where the mRNA's codon sequences match with complementary anticodon sequences on tRNA, guiding the addition of specific amino acids during protein synthesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
Codon-anticodon pairing is a crucial aspect of the translation process in protein synthesis. In this process, the complementary trinucleotide sequence elements align in an anti-parallel fashion. This means that the codons, which are specific sequences of three nucleotides on the mRNA (messenger RNA), are read from 5' to 3' direction. These codons pair with corresponding anticodon sequences, which are consecutive sequences of three nucleotides present on a tRNA (transfer RNA) molecule and are read in the 3' to 5' direction. The anticodon sequence is complementary to the mRNA codon and also binds to a specific amino acid. This precise pairing dictates which amino acid is added to the growing polypeptide chain during protein synthesis.
Furthermore, the redundancy in the genetic code allows for some amino acids to be specified by more than one codon, a phenomenon facilitated by 'wobble' pairing at the third position of the codon. This flexibility enables a single tRNA to recognize multiple codons that code for the same amino acid, despite variations at the third nucleotide.