A gene is 8,001 nucleotides in length. Studies of this gene showthat it encodes a protein only 400 amino acids long – far shorterthan the 2,667 amino acids that were expected. This is bestexplained by the fact:
nucleotides often break off and are lost during thetranscription process.
the genetic code is ambiguous (unclear).
in some cases, many nucleotides are used to encode a singleamino acid.
many of the 8,001 nucleotides of the gene are ultimatelynoncoding.
