What characteristic of the human genetic code is described as having multiple codons that can code for the same amino acid?

The characteristic of the human genetic code that involves multiple codons coding for the same amino acid is known as "degenerate." This term reflects the redundancy inherent in the genetic code, where most amino acids are specified by more than one three-nucleotide codon. For example, the amino acid leucine can be encoded by six different codons (CUU, CUC, CUA, CUG, UUA, UUG), illustrating how a single amino acid can be represented by different sequences of nucleotides in the genetic code.

This degeneracy is significant as it provides a form of protection against mutations. If a mutation occurs in one of the codons for an amino acid, it is less likely to affect the final protein structure because there may be other codons that can still specify the same amino acid.

The other terms do not apply to this concept; "deciduous" relates to trees that shed leaves, "binary" indicates a base-2 numeral system or two states, and "polymorphic" refers to the occurrence of two or more different forms in a population, usually in the context of genetic variations within a species but does not pertain to the codon-amino acid relationship. Thus, the term "