The Genetic Code educational game with two related readings, are based on the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded for work on the genetic code and its role in protein production. The work revealed how the four-letter code of DNA can be translated into the 20-letter alphabet of amino acids, the building blocks that make up proteins.
- What are proteins made up of?
- How many different building blocks are used to produce proteins?
- How is the information in the DNA strand translated into a recipe of a certain protein?
- What language codes for the various amino acids in humans?
Get cracking with the code! Within DNA lies the genetic information needed to produce the proteins that carry out all the vital functions in our cells -- but how do the four bases in DNA produce the 20 amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins? In each gene a sequence of three DNA bases in a specific order, known as a codon, acts as the blueprint for the manufacture of each of the 20 amino acids. Discover how this code works by getting the “Book of Life” -- which contains all the codes for translating DNA into amino acids -- either through using up some of your points or through carrying out an experiment. Armed with the Book of Life, you can take on the computer or challenge a friend to a genetic version of 'five in a row'.
For instructions on how to play the game, click on the HELP button found at the bottom of the game window.
- DNA – the Blueprint of Life
- RNA – a Blueprint copy
- Amino Acids Make Up the Protein
- The RNA Message
- Interpreting the Message
- Visualizing the Code
Read "How to crack the code" »
- What code?
- Making protein from DNA
- Attempts to Decipher the Code
- Early Ideas Sprung from the "RNA Tie club"
- Not a Member of the Club
- A Clever Experiment
- Solving the Rest of the Puzzle
- Using the Code Today