Function
Catalyzes the reductive methylation of 2'-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate (dUMP) to 2'-deoxythymidine-5'-monophosphate (dTMP) while utilizing 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate (mTHF) as the methyl donor and reductant in the reaction, yielding dihydrofolate (DHF) as a by-product (PubMed:3286637, PubMed:2223754, PubMed:9826509). This enzymatic reaction provides an intracellular de novo source of dTMP, an essential precursor for DNA biosynthesis. This protein also binds to its mRNA thus repressing its own translation (PubMed:7708505).