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Glite Dictionary
hypoxanthine

hypoxanthine

1 9.2
A chemical in cells that helps break down DNA and RNA
  • noun
  • /haɪˈpɒksænˌθin/
  • Specialized
: hipoxantina
  • The generation of these radicals is associated with the production of a series of metabolites, including urate and hypoxanthine.

Examples

  • The body converts purines into hypoxanthine during nucleic acid metabolism.

  • This assay utilizes a tetrazolium salt for the detection of superoxide radicals generated by xanthine oxidase and hypoxanthine.

    Blog text (23)

  • OK, so I'll draw out hypoxanthine for you here.

  • Hopefully you now remember that that where are we imp hypoxanthine with PRPP.

  • The relative intensity was normalized to an endogenous control gene (hypoxanthine, Hprt1).

    Academic text (2014)

  • Hypoxanthine is an important compound in the metabolism of hypoxanthine nucleic acids.

  • Researchers studied hypoxanthine to understand its role in cellular processes.

Surface Forms

hypoxanthine singular
hypoxanthines plural

Morphology

hypoxanthine = xanthine (opaque) = hypo + xanth + ine

The target word is formed by adding the technical prefix hypo- to xanthine, but the chemical meaning is not guessable for an average learner.

Etymology

Hypoxanthine comes from the parts hypo- meaning 'under' or 'less' and xanthine which comes from a Greek word for 'yellow'. Think of hypoxanthine as the 'less-yellow' relative of xanthine; it is a small chemical found in cells when DNA or RNA breaks down, so the name helps show its connection to that related compound.