adenine

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Ancient Greek ᾰ̓δήν (ădḗn)der. German Adeninbor. English adenine From German Adenin, from Ancient Greek ἀδήν (adḗn, “gland”). By surface analysis, aden- + -ine. It was named in 1885 by the German biochemist Albrecht Kossel, in reference to the pancreas (a specific gland) from which Kossel's sample had been extracted.

1. A base, C₅H₅N₅, found in certain glands and tissues, which pairs with thymine in DNA and uracil in RNA.

   “One of these labels is ethenoadenine, which is obtained by chemical modification of adenine.”

   “There are two genes in the adenine biosynthetic pathway of yeast (ADE1 and ADE2) that, apart from producing an absolute requirement for adenine when mutant, also produce a change in colony color.”