To determine the number of amino acids resulting from the translation of a given mRNA strand, we need to follow these steps:
1. Identify the mRNA strand: The given mRNA strand is "AUGGUCUAACCCUAG".
2. Split the mRNA strand into codons: Each codon consists of three nucleotides. Thus, we split "AUGGUCUAACCCUAG" into:
- AUG
- GUC
- UAA
- CCC
- UAG
3. Translation of codons into amino acids: We'll refer to the genetic code table to find which amino acids correspond to each codon.
- AUG -> Met (Methionine)
- GUC -> Val (Valine)
- UAA -> STOP
- CCC -> Pro (Proline)
- UAG -> STOP
4. Count the valid amino acids: Only count the codons that translate into amino acids (excluding any 'STOP' codons).
- Met
- Val
- STOP
- Pro
- STOP
5. Determine the total count of amino acids excluding the 'STOP' codons:
- Met (1)
- Val (1)
- Pro (1)
Thus, the total number of valid amino acids resulting from the translation of the given mRNA strand, excluding the STOP codons, is 3.
From the choices given:
- 8
- 5
- 18
The correct number of valid amino acids (excluding STOP codons) from the translation of the mRNA strand "AUGGUCUAACCCUAG" is 3, but since this option is not present among provided choices, the closest to the correct count is 5, which indicates possible options provided might be off.
However, among the choices, none is correct if strictly follow the process detailed above, but for the question requirement, you should consider a recheck of the logical provided choices if needed.
