Anticodon vs. Codon

Main Difference

The main difference between Anticodon and Codon is that an anticodon is a unit made up of three nucleotides that resemble the three bases of the codon on the mRNA whereas a codon is a sequence of three DNA or RNA nucleotides that parallels with a specific amino acid or stop signal in protein synthesis.

Difference Between Anticodon and Codon

Comparison Chart

Anticodon vs. Codon

Anticodon is the complement nucleotide order of the codon on tRNA molecules whereas codon is linguistic which characterizes an amino acid on mRNA molecules. Anticodons are trinucleotide units in the tRNAs, opposite to the codons in mRNAs as they allow the tRNAs to supply the exact amino acids in the protein production whereas codons are trinucleotide components in the DNA or mRNAs, coding for an exact amino acid in the protein synthesis. The anticodons are the connection between the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA and the amino acid sequence of the protein whereas the codons allocate the genetic information from the nucleus where the DNA is localizing to the ribosomes and the protein synthesis is performed. The anticodon is locating in the Anticodon arm of the molecule of tRNA, while the codons are locating in the molecule of DNA and mRNA. The anticodon is corresponding to the respective codon whereas the codon in the mRNA is corresponding to a nucleotide triplet from a particular gene in the DNA. One tRNA comprises one anticodon whereas one DNA or mRNA contains a number of codons. Anticodon is independently present on tRNAs whereas codon is successively present on the mRNA. Anticodon carries the specific amino acid by the codon whereas codon controls the position of the amino acid.

What is Anticodon?

The anticodons are trinucleotide components in the transport RNAs that are corresponding to the codons in messenger RNAs. They permit them to supply the correct amino acids in protein production. The tRNAs are the connection between the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA and the amino acid sequence of the protein. Cells comprise several tRNAs, each of which can only bind to a precise amino acid. The anticodon arm contains an anticodon, corresponding to the codon in mRNA. It is liable for the recognition and binding with the codon in the mRNA. Coupling between the codon and the anticodon may allow differences in the third base as the anticodon loop are not linear, and when the anticodon fixes to the codon in mRNA, a perfect double-stranded tRNA (anticodon) – mRNA (codon) molecule is not forming. The formation of several non-standard opposite pairs, known as wobble base pairs occurs and permits the same tRNA to decode additional than one codon, which significantly decreases the requires the number of tRNAs in the cell and considerably reduces the effect of the mutations.

What is Codon?

The gene sequence encoding in DNA and transcribes in the mRNA comprises of trinucleotide units known as codons, each of which codes an amino acid. All nucleotide consists of saccharide deoxyribose, phosphate, and one of the four nitrogen bases, so there are a total of 64 possible codons.From all 64 codons, 61 are a coding amino acid, but the additional three, UGA, UAG, and UAA don’t code amino acid but help as signals for stopping protein synthesis and are refers to as stop codons. The methionine codon serves as a translational initiation signal and is known as a start codon. All amino acids, excepting methionine and tryptophan, are encoding by more than one codon. Redundant codons generally fluctuate in their third position. A codon is entirely determining by the selecting starting position. Each DNA sequence transcribes in three “reading frames,” each of which gives an entirely alter sequence of amino acids reliant on the starting position. A start codon is not enough to initiate the process. Neighboring primers are requiring to make mRNA transcription and ribosome binding. For example, in mitochondria, UGA is usually a stop codon, codes tryptophan, whereas AGA and AGG are typically encoding tryptophan, are stop codons.

Conclusion

Above this discussion, it concludes that anticodon and codon are both include in the positioning of amino acids in the exact order to synthesize a functional protein during translation. Both of them are nucleotide triplets.