Abstract
AN enzyme able to add deoxyribonucleotides to the ends of DNA primers has been identified in calf thymus by Bollum and his colleagues and named terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase1–4. Chang5 has indicated that the enzyme is a specialised constituent of thymus cells and is not present in any other organ of several animal species. The enzyme is located in the lymphocyte fraction of the thymus (Silverstone, Parkman, McCaffrey and Baltimore, unpublished results). Recently, we found an enzyme with the properties of a terminal transferase in circulating lymphoblasts of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ref. 6 and McCaffrey, Harrison, and Baltimore, unpublished results).
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BALTIMORE, D. Is terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase a somatic mutagen in lymphocytes?. Nature 248, 409–411 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/248409a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/248409a0
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