The spelling of the word "Poly dT" can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). "Poly" is pronounced as /pɑːli/, where the first sound is a voiceless bilabial plosive 'p', followed by the open back unrounded vowel 'ɑː' and the lateral approximant 'l'. "dT" is pronounced as /diː tiː/, where the first sound is the voiced alveolar approximant 'd', followed by the long vowel 'iː' and the voiceless alveolar plosive 't'. The entire word is used in molecular biology to refer to a synthetic DNA molecule consisting of multiple deoxythymidine monomers.
Poly dT, also known as polydeoxythymidine or poly-T, is a synthetic polymer composed of repeating units of thymidine nucleotides. It is commonly used in molecular biology and genetics research as a tool to specifically bind to and isolate messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules for various applications.
Poly dT is predominantly used in techniques such as reverse transcription and cDNA synthesis, where it acts as a primer for the synthesis of complementary DNA (cDNA) from mRNA templates. It possesses a high affinity for the polyadenine (polyA) tail, a characteristic feature of most eukaryotic mRNA molecules. The interaction between the poly dT primer and the polyA tail allows for the initiation of reverse transcription, enabling the synthesis of cDNA molecules that are complementary to the mRNA sequences.
By incorporating a stretch of thymidine residues, poly dT is able to selectively interact with mRNA and exclude other RNA species, such as ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA). This specificity is crucial for isolating and studying mRNA in order to gain insights into gene expression patterns or investigate the presence of specific RNA transcripts.
Overall, poly dT serves as a versatile reagent in molecular biology techniques, facilitating the analysis and manipulation of mRNA molecules for a wide range of scientific investigations.
The term "Poly dT" is a molecular biology abbreviation that refers to a polydeoxythymidine tract, specifically a chain of deoxythymidine nucleotides (T) in a DNA molecule.
In terms of its etymology, "Poly" is derived from the ancient Greek word "polus", meaning "many" or "multiple". In molecular biology, "Poly" is often used as a prefix to indicate a polymer, which refers to a large molecule made up of repeating subunits.
The "d" in "Poly dT" stands for "deoxy", which indicates that the DNA molecule contains deoxyribose as its sugar component, rather than ribose. "dT" represents the nucleotide thymidine in its deoxyribose form.
Overall, the term "Poly dT" simply denotes a chain of multiple thymidine nucleotides in DNA.