Hi – I’m seeking clarification on the distinction between sense/anti-sense and codon/anticodon.

A codon is the triplet code, and carries the sense of the gene (ie, it IS the code)(well, one amino acid thereof!)

An anti-codon is the complement to the codon, and carries the anti-sense of the gene.

BUT, I’m getting confused as to how this maps to the two DNA strands (template and coding) and thence to the mRNA and tRNA.

Is the logic: The tRNA carries the amino acid, so its triplet must therefore be the ‘sense’ one – which would mean the mRNA must have the anti-sense triplet, which means it must copy the sense triplet off the DNA, and so the sense-triplet (ie, codon) is on the coding strand of DNA ???

OR, is the logic: The mRNA carries the sense, so it copies the antisense (template) strand of DNA, while the sense/coding DNA is not copied. The tRNA complementary to the sense mRNA is in fact anti-sense, and the amino acids are therefore carried on anti-sense tRNAs.

I think these are the only two options???

Very many thanks for any clarification

Regards, Julie