Definition of "codon" []

• 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. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A typical example of a DNA codon is GCC, which encodes the amino acid Alanine."
• "It is assumed here that this structure is the result of the hierarchical order of the interaction energies of the bases in codon – anticodon recognition."
• "An amino acid encoding codon is absolutely meaningless in isolation."