thymidylic, a. Biochem.
(θaɪmɪˈdɪlɪk)
[f. prec. + -yl + -ic.]
thymidylic acid: any phosphoric acid ester of thymidine, C5H8O2(PH2O4).C5H4N2O2, one or other of which is one of the four nucleotides present in most DNA.
| 1951 Jrnl Bacteriol. LXI. 41 Samples of thymidylic acid, desoxyadenylic acid..and desoxyguanylic acid..were made available. 1968 A. White et al. Princ. Biochem. (ed. 4) ix. 186 Deoxyguanylic, thymidylic, and deoxycytidylic acids esterified at positions 3{p} and 5{p} are also found in hydrolysates of DNA. 1972 Sci. Amer. Dec. 85/1 Until well into the 1930's DNA was generally thought to be merely a tetranucleotide composed of one unit each of adenylic, guanylic, thymidylic and cytidylic acids. |
Hence thyˈmidylate, the anion derived from thymidylic acid by the loss of a hydrogen atom from the phosphate group.
| 1959 Flaks & Cohen in Jrnl. Biol. Chem. CCXXXIV. 2981/1 We are designating the latter catalytic activity..as ‘thymidylate synthetase’. 1974 J. W. Drake in Carlile & Skehel Evolution in Microbial World 51 The td gene encodes the viral thymidylate synthetase. |