DNA Sequence to Protein Translation (Six-Frame) — Online Tool
Translates a nucleic acid sequence into amino acids using the standard genetic code (NCBI translation table 1). Each codon is three bases; 64 codons encode 20 amino acids plus 3 stop signals.
Why six frames? For any given sequence you don’t know in advance which reading frame is correct, or whether the gene lies on the forward or reverse-complement strand. Three offsets (0/1/2) on the forward strand plus three offsets on the reverse-complement strand give six possibilities — you need to check all six to avoid missing anything.
The tool also reports every open reading frame (ORF) in each frame: segments that begin with ATG, end at a stop codon, and meet the minimum length threshold. This is the simplest ORF definition. Eukaryotic genes contain introns and cannot be identified this way directly — this tool is suited for prokaryotic genes, cDNA, and plasmid sequences.
FAQ
What do * and X mean?
* is a stop codon (TAA/TAG/TGA); X means the codon contains an N or an invalid character, so the amino acid cannot be determined.
Why does a eukaryotic gene translate into nonsense?
Eukaryotic genomic sequences contain introns and must be spliced before translation. Use mRNA/cDNA sequences, or perform gene structure annotation first.
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