When scientists were attempting to determine the structure of the genetic code, Crick and coworkers found that when three base additions or three base deletions occurred in a single gene, the wild-type phenotype was sometimes restored. These data supported the hypothesis that ___

Option A, the code is triplet

Explanation:

Complete question

When scientists were attempting to determine the structure of the genetic code, Crick and coworkers found that when three base additions or three base deletions occurred in a single gene, the wild-type phenotype was sometimes restored. These data supported the hypothesis that .

A) the code is triplet

B) the code contains internal punctuation

C) AUG is the initiating triplet

D) the code is overlapping

E) there are three amino acids per base

Solution

The team of Francis Crick was the first one to determine the length of the codon in 1961 by using a T4 bacteriophage. Through an assay, they devised the properties of genetic code and introduced frame shift mutation. So during the initial stage of experiment, only one single frame shift was introduced with in the viral protein of E. coli bacteria thereby making the protein nonfunctional. They then introduced an additional frame shift to restore the protein structure so that its function could be restored. This experiment was successful and concluded with a finding that genetic code is based on multiple of three bases