Imagine discovering three different bacterial species on a meteorite. Each species contains genetic material that is not DNA, but the genetic material of each species contains four bases. Each species has a different number of amino acids. Use the total number of amino acids per species to determine the minimum codon length for each species.

Species A produced only 2 amino acids. Since there are 5 bases, each base can specigy one amino acid, with redundancy. The minimum codon length for species A is 1.

Species B: Produces 56 amino acids. Since there are 4 bases, to code for 56 amino acids, the minimum codon length should be 4^3 = 4 x 4 x 4 = 64. A triplet codon is required to code the 56 amino acids of this species.

Species C: Produce 162 amino acids. Since a triplet codon can code for only 64 amino acids, a codon of four bases is required for this species. The four base codon gives 4^4 = 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 254 different codons. Hence, the answer is 4 base codon.