- thymidine
- 1-(2-Deoxyribosyl)thymine; one of the four major nucleosides in DNA (the others being deoxyadenosine, deoxycytidine, and deoxyguanosine). SYN: deoxythymidine, thymine deoxyribonucleoside.- t. phosphorylase phosphorylase that catalyzes the phosphorolysis of t.; i.e., t. and Pi react to form thymine and 2-deoxy-d-ribose 1-phosphate.- tritiated t. t. containing the hydrogen α-emitting radionuclide, tritium (3H or hydrogen-3); used as a marker to measure and localize by radioautography the synthesis of DNA, into which it is incorporated.
* * *
thy·mi·dine 'thī-mə-.dēn n a nucleoside C10H14N2O5 that is composed of thymine and deoxyribose and occurs as a structural part of DNA* * *
n.a compound containing thymine and the sugar ribose. See also nucleoside.* * *
thy·mi·dine (thiґmĭ-dēn) a pyrimidine nucleoside, thymine linked by its N1 nitrogen to the C1 carbon of ribose; symbol T. The term is commonly used as a synonym for deoxythymidine (dT), for it was thought that thymidine-containing ribonucleosides do not exist, which would make the prefix deoxy- unnecessary. However, it is now known that thymine, produced by post-transcriptional methylation of uracil, occurs as a rare base in rRNAs and tRNAs; therefore the term should be restricted to the ribonucleoside and ribonucleotide forms.
Medical dictionary. 2011.