Genes are written in a code consisting of groups of three letters called triplets.
There are four letters in the DNA alphabet. There are 64 possible arrangements of the four letters in groups of three
The triplets specify amino acids for the synthesis of proteins from the information contained in the gene
Genes can also specify t- RNA or r- RNAs
The gene begins with a start triplet and ends with a stop. The bases between the start and the stop are called an open reading frame, ORF.
The information in the gene is transcribed by RNA polymerase.
It reads the gene from 3' to 5'
The template strand is now referred to as the CRICK strand and the nontemplate strand is now known as the WATSON strand
DNA sequences are stored in data bases as the wATsoN strand Reference COLD SPRING HARBOR 2003