DNA

Are you trying to say people can have 24 amino acids instead of 20? Codens simply code for amino acids. Also your link just brought me up to a main forum of that site. It did not bring me to any thread. If you can, please explain your post further and add a better link so I can better understand were your viewpoint is.

Be Well

Kur'Ost

When the big kids play the little kids know to stay away. 42 posts and not one fluffy. Must be in the genes.

A codon is not a single pair of nucleotides but three. It can be considered the means of translation between mRNA and proteins however normal humans do not possess only 20 but 64. What I assume is actually meant by the word codon in this example is the proteins used during synthesis. I took the liberty of tracking my way back through google to the original article (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199503303321301#t=articleDiscussion).

What this actually states is that the child develops the p24 antigen (a protein chain 24 bases long) that immunises them against the strain of HIV that they are infected with in birth. This is theorized to develop during the womb as a result to low dose exposure to HIV-1. Simply put this is because in utero we express many thousands of such antibodies which are removed one by one unless they are used before birth. From what I can gather though claims of immunity have been greatly exaggerated and the children of such circumstances gain boosted immunity to HIV (for an unknown period of time, it may be life or it may be only a few months/years) but do not gain immunity to any other additional diseases.