Deoxyuridine (dU) is a

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

and a

nucleoside Nucleosides are glycosylamines that can be thought of as nucleotides without a phosphate group. A nucleoside consists simply of a nucleobase (also termed a nitrogenous base) and a five-carbon sugar (ribose or 2'-deoxyribose) whereas a nucleoti ...

.It belongs to a class of compounds known as Pyrimidine 2'-deoxyribonucleosides and closely resembles the chemical composition of uridine but without the presence of the 2' hydroxyl group.

Idoxuridine Idoxuridine is an anti-herpesvirus antiviral drug. It is a nucleoside analogue, a modified form of deoxyuridine, similar enough to be incorporated into viral DNA replication, but the iodine atom added to the uracil component blocks base pairin ...

and

Trifluridine Trifluridine (also called trifluorothymidine; abbreviation TFT or FTD) is an anti-herpesvirus antiviral drug, used primarily on the eye. It was sold under the trade name Viroptic by Glaxo Wellcome, now merged into GlaxoSmithKline. The brand is ...

are variants of deoxyuridine used as antiviral drugs. They are similar enough to be incorporated as part of

DNA replication In molecular biology, DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all living organisms acting as the most essential part for biological inheritanc ...

, but they possess side groups on the

uracil Uracil () (symbol U or Ura) is one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid RNA. The others are adenine (A), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). In RNA, uracil binds to adenine via two hydrogen bonds. In DNA, the uracil nucleobase is replaced b ...

component (an iodine and a CF₃ group, respectively), that prevent base pairing. A known use of dU is as a precursor in the synthesis of Edoxudine. This compound exists in all living organisms and can become part of DNA in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells through two mechanisms. The first is the removal of an amino group from cytosine to result in uracil and the second is the non-intentional incorporation of pyrimidine where thymine belongs in the DNA, resulting in dUMP. UMP synthase deficiency is a metabolic disorder in humans that involves deoxyuridine. Deoxyuridine can be toxic. It has also been found in several foods, which makes it a useful indicator for diseases through consumption of those foods.

References

{{Nucleobases, nucleosides, and nucleotides Nucleosides Pyrimidinediones