2. A future space explorer discovers a planet with an alien plantlike species wi
ID: 196131 • Letter: 2
Question
2. A future space explorer discovers a planet with an alien plantlike species with a different genetic code than we have on earth. She discovers that the alien genetic information stored in sequences of5 different molecular signals , , and . Further analysis shows the alien plant structures are built from long polymers made up of different sequences of 1024 fundamental molecular monomers. A) Assuming the molecular monomers are coded from combinations of the 5- member molecular alphabet, determine the length of a codon for the alien species (i.e. single, doublet, triplet, etc.). Is the code degenerate? B) Assuming that all symbols are equally likely, determine the Shannon entropy for this alien genetic code.Explanation / Answer
A) as from the information given there are 1024 molecular monomers formed from 5 (, , , and ) molecular alphabets, so to achieve this lets go through the possibilities for length of codon
here we can se only 5th point can be applicable to achieve the target of 1024 molecular monomers.
and YES, the code must be degenerative because we need coding for only 1024 monomers but 3125 codes are available therefore more the one code can be applied for one monomer.
B) to calculate shannon entropy we have to use the below equation
where pi is the probability of a given symbol.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.