Final answer:
Option A is correct option . A three RNA nucleotide sequence that codes for an amino acid is known as a codon. This is a fundamental concept in genetics, where a codon is part of the genetic code that corresponds to a specific amino acid in protein synthesis.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term used to describe a three RNA nucleotide sequence that codes for an amino acid is called a codon. Genetic code consists of many such codons where each codon corresponds to a specific amino acid. A single codon is formed by a combination of three out of the four nucleotides: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U) in the case of RNA.
Each group of three nucleotide bases in mRNA that specifies one amino acid is called a codon. In the translation process of protein synthesis, the messenger RNA (mRNA) is read in a 5' to 3' direction, and the protein produced from this process begins with the N-terminal amino acid. The genetic code is considered to be degenerate, meaning that multiple codons can encode the same amino acid. There are 64 possible codon combinations, but only 20 common amino acids are formed during translation. This relationship between an mRNA codon and its corresponding amino acid is at the core of the genetic code.
The discovery by Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner confirmed that the insertion of three nucleotides (which form a codon) does not disturb the triplet reading frame, thereby allowing the correct synthesis of a functional protein - provided that the insertion is in multiples of three. If not in multiples of three, such insertions cause a frameshift mutation, altering the entire sequence of amino acids beyond the mutation site, which often leads to nonfunctional proteins.