Biology question from past BMAT (BMAT 2019)

[AizzaPV]

Hey everyone! I saw this question in the BMAT 2019 and I thought the answer was A (none of them) but it’s actually B, does anyone know why?
500/3 = aprox 166; but what about the STOP and END codons? Shouldnt the answer be 164?

[Juliette]

Hi!

i’ve fallen into this trap too many times to count, look at the wording of the question:
we’re talking about a protein section, so already entirely made of amino acids (500/3=166)
Don’t confuse it with a mRNA section that would code for a protein, in which case we would have (500 - 3 start codon - 3 stop codon/3=164)

Hope this helps!

[AizzaPV]

owww you are a genious, thank you so much girl!