Wikipedia says that "in RNA, thymine is replaced with uracil in most cases." I'm curious what are the cases when this does not happen? Does this ever occur in normal functioning, or is it an error? Do T and U ever appear in the same strands of RNA together, or does a single strand just use T or just use U?
1 Answer
tRNA molecules contain a T in the T arm. I believe that this results from post-transcriptional modification of a U by uridine methylase.
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$\begingroup$ just curious: can RNA polymerase incorporate thymine from TTP against Adenine ? $\endgroup$– WYSIWYGJul 4, 2013 at 15:14
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$\begingroup$ Do cells make TTP? (or 5-methyl UTP, as it is usually referred to) $\endgroup$ Jul 4, 2013 at 17:53
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$\begingroup$ I am not sure.. UMP is the first product of de-novo pyrimidine synthesis. The ribose is reduced and uracil is methylated to produce dTTP. I dont know if the order of the reactions is unchangeable ? I guess if artificially provided, Thymine can be incorported in RNA. (Sorry, i should have looked it up instead of commenting) $\endgroup$– WYSIWYGJul 5, 2013 at 5:34