How many possible codons exist in the genetic code?

The correct choice of 64 possible codons in the genetic code is based on the structure of the genetic code itself, which is composed of sequences of three nucleotides, known as triplets. Since there are four different nucleotides in RNA (adenine, uracil, cytosine, and guanine), the calculation for the total number of possible combinations is derived from the formula (4^n), where (n) is the length of the codon.

In this case, when (n = 3):

[

4^3 = 4 \times 4 \times 4 = 64

]

Thus, there are 64 unique combinations of three nucleotides, which correspond to the different codons that can be utilized in the encoding of amino acids. Among these codons, 61 different ones specify amino acids, while the remaining 3 serve as stop codons that terminate translation.

The other options do not accurately reflect the number of codons in the genetic code due to the miscalculation of combinations that can be formed using three nucleotide sequences. It is essential to recognize that while there are 20 standard amino acids, this number stems from the codons derived from those