uracil Biochem.
(ˈjʊərəsɪl)
[a. G. uracil (R. Behrend 1885, in Ann. d. Chemie CCXXIX. 11), of unknown origin (perh. f. Eng. urea + G. ac-etsäure acetic acid + -il).]
A pyrimidine base, C4H4N2O2, which is a constituent of RNA.
| 1890 Roscoe & Schorlemmer Treat. Chem. (ed. 2) III. 387 Behrend has succeeded in preparing..compounds, which are derivatives of a hypothetical substance, to which he has given the name uracil. 1907 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. III. 187 The uracil dissolved completely on warming. 1944 [see orotic a.]. 1959 Times 12 June 15/7 It has been calculated..that a thousand-unit polynucleotide chain consisting of a coded repeat of only four different components—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil—in the same ratio as exists in tobacco mosaic virus nucleic acid could form about 1057 different arrangements. 1975 Sci. Amer. May 25/2 Poliovirus RNA is a single chain of about 7,500..nucleotides, each of which consists of a ribose sugar component and one of four organic bases: adenine, uracil, guanine and cytosine. |