Deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP) is one of the four
nucleoside triphosphate
A nucleoside triphosphate is a nucleoside containing a nitrogenous base bound to a 5-carbon sugar (either ribose or deoxyribose), with three phosphate groups bound to the sugar. They are the molecular precursors of both DNA and RNA, which are ch ...
s that are used in the ''in vivo'' synthesis of
DNA. Unlike the other
deoxyribonucleoside
A deoxyribonucleotide is a nucleotide that contains deoxyribose. They are the monomeric units of the informational biopolymer, deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA). Each deoxyribonucleotide comprises three parts: a deoxyribose sugar (monosaccharide), a nit ...
triphosphates, thymidine triphosphate does not always contain the "deoxy" prefix in its name.
The corresponding
ribonucleoside A ribonucleoside is a type of nucleoside including ribose as a component.
One example of a ribonucleoside is cytidine
Cytidine (symbol C or Cyd) is a nucleoside molecule that is formed when cytosine is attached to a ribose ring (also known as a ...
triphosphate is called
uridine triphosphate.
It can be used by
DNA ligase
DNA ligase is a specific type of enzyme, a ligase, () that facilitates the joining of DNA strands together by catalyzing the formation of a phosphodiester bond. It plays a role in repairing single-strand breaks in duplex DNA in living orga ...
to create overlapping "sticky ends" so that protruding ends of opened microbial
plasmids may be closed up.
References
Nucleotides
Phosphate esters
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