A Concise Introduction to Programming in Python

Project: Reading DNA Frames

Exercise 12.7 describes (without the chemistry) how DNA is converted to RNA

through transcription. After transcription, RNA is converted to a sequence of

amino acids through a process called translation. RNA translation takes

groups of three nucleotide bases called co dons, and converts each codon to

an amino acid according to the following table (see, e.g., [4]):

Base 2

Base 1 U C A G Base 3

U F S Y C U

F S Y C C

L S _ _ A

L S _ W G

C L P H R U

L P H R C

L P Q R A

L P Q R G

A I T N S U

I T N S C

I T K R A

M T K R G

G V A D G U

V A D G C

V A E G A

V A E G G

To look up, say, the translation of AGC, find A in the first column, then look

down ...