When scientist cut apart DNA molecules, they must avoid cutting apart codons. Why is this so important?

Answer 1

It depends what the scientist is cutting the DNA for; but i suppose it would be because proteins are translated as a series of codons (3 nucleotides), and if you cut apart codons, then something called frame shift will occur, in which codon frame gets shifted over a couple nucleotides, and so the rest of the protein will have a completely different amino acid sequence than it shoudl have, and results it extensive missense or nonsense.

Answer 2

A codon is the unit that contains the information for one particular amino acid. If you disrupt a codon, you disrupt the reading frame of a given gene, leading to a truncated product or a wrong product all thogether (if the reading frame changes).

Answer 3

You certainly don't want a leaky condom. It will get you in trouble quicker than anything.