3-Methylthymine was synthesized into DNA copolymers and deoxynucleoside triphosphate to study its effect on DNA synthesis by the Klenow fragment of Escherichia coli polymerase I and avian myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase. Both polymerases were greatly inhibited by template 3-methylthymine. In response to 3-methylthymine, misincorporation of dTTP increased slightly, but occurred only at low levels consistent with spontaneous misincorporation in vitro. Surprisingly, template 3-methylthymine resulted in a striking decrease in background misincorporation, relative to normal incorporation by the Klenow fragment, of dGTP and, to a lesser extent, of dATP and dCTP. The incorporation of 3-methyl-dTTP into DNA was studied using DNA sequencing technology. The Klenow fragment failed to incorporate 3-methyl-dTTP even at 1 mM. Reverse transcriptase incorporated 3-methyl-dTTP opposite adenine, cytosine, and thymine, but at only about 1/40,000th the efficiency of complementary deoxynucleoside triphosphate incorporation. Furthermore, synthesis generally stalled at sites of 3-methyl-thymine incorporation. From these results, we conclude that damage at the central hydrogen-bonding position of thymine abolishes its base-pairing capabilities during DNA synthesis.