a unit that consists of three adjacent bases on a DNA molecule and that determines the position of a specific amino acid in a protein molecule during protein synthesis
Word origin
C20: from code + -on
codon in American English
(ˈkoʊˌdɑn)
US
noun
a small group of chemical units, consisting of a sequence of three nucleotides, that codes the incorporation of a specific small group of amino acids into a protein moleculeduring the synthesis of the protein; codons are present in DNA and RNA