A synthetic nucleobase used in molecular biology to track and label DNA, especially in research studying cell division and DNA replication.
From bromo- (bromine) + deoxy- (without oxygen) + uridine (a nucleoside in RNA). Scientists created this molecule by substituting a bromine atom into thymidine, a natural DNA component, to make it detectable.
Bromodeoxyuridine is like a fluorescent highlighter pen for DNA—when cells copy their DNA during division, they accidentally incorporate this fake nucleotide instead of the real one, and researchers can then track exactly which cells divided when!
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