Anticodon is a sequence of three nucleotides in transfer RNA that pairs with a complementary codon on messenger RNA during protein synthesis. This region ensures correct amino acid incorporation by matching codon-anticodon rules, guiding the ribosome to add the proper amino acid. It is a foundational concept in molecular biology, linking genetic information to protein assembly.
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US: rhoticity makes /ˌæn.tiˈkoʊ.dɒn/ feel more rounded, emphasis on /koʊ/. UK: non-rhotic, /ˌæn.tiˈkəʊ.dɒn/, with a clearer /əʊ/ and lighter final /n/. AU: often similar to US but faster and more glottal brevity in the middle vowel; vowel length variability is common. IPA references: US /ˌæn.tiˈkoʊ.dɒn/, UK /ˌæn.tiˈkəʊ.dɒn/, AU /ˌæn.tiˈkəʊ.dɒn/ or /ˌæn.tiˈkoʊ.dən/ in some dialects. Tip: practice with a mirror to see lip rounding changes and keep jaw relaxed for /əʊ/ vs /oʊ/.
"The anticodon of tRNA recognizes the mRNA codon through precise base pairing."
"Researchers studied anticodon mutations to understand their impact on translation accuracy."
"In cloning experiments, altering the anticodon can change the amino acid brought to the growing peptide chain."
"Bioinformatic tools can predict tRNA anticodon–codon interactions to model translation efficiency."
Anticodon derives from the combination of anti- (Greek anti- ‘against, opposite’) and codon (from 'codon', a portmanteau of codon- from COD- ‘coding’ and -on as a noun ending). The term first appears in molecular biology literature in the mid-1960s as researchers refined the flow of genetic information: DNA transcribes to RNA, which translates into protein. The concept of codons (triplets of nucleotides on mRNA) was established in the 1960s with the genetic code. The complementary tRNA anticodon was identified as the mechanism that recognizes mRNA codons, enabling specific amino acids to be incorporated. Early foundational work by Crick and colleagues on the wobble hypothesis and ribosome function laid groundwork for anticodon understanding. By the 1970s, anticodons were routinely described in textbooks and lab protocols for translation. The term has remained stable in scientific discourse, expanding into studies of tRNA modifications, codon bias, and translation fidelity. In modern genomics, anticodons are central to engineering tRNA-tRNA synthetase pairs and synthetic biology applications, but the core idea remains rooted in 3-nucleotide recognition. First known usage appears in prominent molecular biology texts and articles during the 1960s–1970s era of codon discovery and translation mechanism elucidation.
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Words that rhyme with "anticodon"
-don sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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You say /ˌæn.tiˈkoʊ.dɒn/ in US English, with primary stress on the second syllable (koʊ). UK English is /ˌæn.tiˈkəʊ.dɒn/ with a similar rhythm but a shorter, unstressed second vowel, and AU follows US patterns but may reduce the second vowel slightly. Focus on crisp /koʊ/ (US) or /kəʊ/ (UK) and clear final /dɒn/.
Common errors: 1) Misplacing stress, saying ‘an-ti-CO-don’ instead of ‘an-ti-CO-don’ with stress on the third syllable; 2) Mixing /koʊ/ with /koʊn/ or unclear vowel length; 3) Dropping the final /n/ or softening to /dɔn/. Correction: keep primary stress on the third syllable, use a clear diphthong /oʊ/ (US) or clipped /əʊ/ (UK), and articulate final nasal /n/ distinctly. Practice with minimal pairs to lock the rhythm.
US: /ˌæn.tiˈkoʊ.dɒn/ with rhoticity, clear /oʊ/ and /ɒ/; UK: /ˌæn.tiˈkəʊ.dɒn/ with /əʊ/ and non-rhotic /ˈ/; AU: similar to US but tends toward flatter vowels and faster syllable tempo; differences mainly in vowel quality (/koʊ/ vs /kəʊ/) and rhoticity realization. Listen for the second syllable accent and final nasal clarity.
Because it blends a stressed long diphthong in the second syllable (/ˈkoʊ/ or /ˈkəʊ/) with a final unstressed, clipped nasal /dɒn/; the sequence /ti/ early can blur in fast speech, and some speakers conflate the /ti/ with /ti/ as /tɪ/ or /si/. Practicing the three-syllable rhythm and ensuring the onset of the third syllable remains strong helps clarity.
No. Each syllable contains audible consonants and vowels: 'an' /æ/ or /ən/; 'ti' /ti/; 'co' /ko/ or /kəʊ/; 'don' /dɒn/. There are no silent letters in standard pronunciation. Mastery comes from crisp enunciation of every phoneme and consistent stress.
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