Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sequence of three adjacent nucleotides constituting the genetic code that determines the insertion of a specific amino acid in a polypeptide chain during protein synthesis or the signal to stop protein synthesis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small bell.
  • noun The bell or flaring mouth of a trumpet.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Molecular biology) a sequence of three nucleotides in a genome or a DNA or messenger RNA molecule, which specifies the incorporation of one amino acid or is a stop signal, during the biosynthesis of proteins. Codons occur within the protein-coding segments of the DNA or RNA genome of living organisms. The amino acid sequence of proteins synthesized on ribosomes is thus determined by the sequence of the nucleotides in the genome.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biochemistry A sequence of three adjacent nucleotides, which encode for a specific amino acid during protein synthesis, or translation. Three special codons, called "stop codons," signal protein synthesis to terminate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a specific sequence of three adjacent nucleotides on a strand of DNA or RNA that specifies the genetic code information for synthesizing a particular amino acid

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[cod(e) + –on.]

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