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Student worksheet

Turn Your Name Into DNA

Use DNA My Name to explore amino acid one-letter codes, DNA codons, and why more than one codon can encode the same amino acid.

At a glance

Audience
Middle school, high school, and intro biology
Time
30–45 minutes
Format
1 printable page, US Letter or A4
Access
No login required
Learning objective
Connect amino acid one-letter codes to DNA codons, then explain why a codon can change without changing the amino acid.

Print it or save it as a PDF; file size depends on your browser. Teacher answer guidance follows the worksheet and is left off the printout.

Teacher setup

Use this worksheet with a class

Print or save the worksheet, then send students to the class start page so they can record their amino acid sequence and DNA codons.

Open class start
Student message: Go to https://www.dnamyname.com/class. Enter your first name. Record your amino acid sequence and DNA codons on the worksheet. Press Shuffle once and answer what changed.

Classroom flow

  1. Print or save this worksheet for students.
  2. Project the QR code or send students to dnamyname.com/class.
  3. Students enter a first name and record amino acids and DNA codons.
  4. Students press Shuffle once, then explain what changed and what stayed the same.

Name

________________________

Class

________________________

Date

________________________

1. Generate your sequence

  1. Go to dnamyname.com/class.
  2. Enter your first name and select DNA My Name.
  3. Record the amino acids and DNA codons shown in your result.
QR code to open DNA My Name classroom start page

2. Read the codon table

Use the codon chart at dnamyname.com/codon-table to answer these questions.

  1. Choose one amino acid from your name. Which DNA codons can encode it?
  2. Which amino acid in your name has the most codon options?
  3. Find one amino acid with only one codon. Why might that be biologically important?

3. Test codon degeneracy

  1. Press Shuffle once and record one highlighted codon pair that changed.
  2. Did your amino acid sequence change? Explain why or why not.
  3. How does this model show that DNA can change without changing the protein?
Remember: DNA My Name uses real codon biology, but your result is a fictional classroom model. It is not your real genetic sequence.

For teachers

Answer guidance

Every name gives a different sequence, so there is no single answer key. Check that each answer shows the idea below, and that each codon matches its amino acid in the codon table.

1. Generate your sequence

  • There is one amino acid for each character and one three-base codon for each amino acid.
  • B, J, O, U, X, and Z become D, L, K, C, G, and E. Spaces, hyphens, and accented letters appear as K, using the placeholder codon AAA. Both are site rules, not biology.

2. Read the codon table

  • Students list every codon for their amino acid, for example Alanine (A): GCT, GCC, GCA, GCG.
  • Leucine (L), Arginine (R), and Serine (S) have the most codons, 6 each. If a name has none of them, the amino acid with the most codons in that name is correct, and ties are fine.
  • Only Methionine (M, ATG) and Tryptophan (W, TGG) have one codon. Look for the idea that there is no backup codon: changing any base changes the amino acid or stops the protein early. Students may also note that ATG is the usual start codon.

3. Test codon degeneracy

  • Changed pairs vary, but both codons in a pair encode the same amino acid. They often, but not always, differ only in the third base.
  • The amino acid sequence does not change, because Shuffle only swaps a codon for another codon of the same amino acid.
  • Strong answers explain that several codons can encode one amino acid (codon degeneracy), so some DNA changes are silent and leave the protein the same.
  • Codons for M and W never change on Shuffle, and neither do placeholder AAA codons.

Sources and review

Standard Genetic Code assignments last checked against NCBI translation table 1 in September 2026.

Site-specific letter substitutions and placeholder rules are maintained by DNA My Name and are creative encoding rules, not biological standards.