| budding and appendaged bacteria | Bacteria that commonly possess unusual shapes, have complex life cycles, and divide by budding. Many have appendages which are sufficiently prominent that they can be detected by phase-contrast light microscopy. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| budding | <microbiology> A type of cell division in fungi and in protozoa in which one of the daughter cells develops as a smaller protrusion from the other. Usually the position of the budding cell is defined by polarity in the mother cell. In some protozoa the budded daughter may lie within the cytoplasm of the other daughter. (18 Nov 1997) |
| virus assembly | The assembly of viral capsid proteins and nucleic acid to form a viral particle (virion). (12 Dec 1998) |
| self assembly | <biology> The property of forming structures from sub units (protomers) without any external source of information about the structure to be formed such as priming structure or template. (18 Nov 1997) |
| zero energy thermonuclear assembly | <radiobiology> A British fusion device in which scientists observed fusion neutrons in 1958. They were erroneously considered to be thermonuclear (coming from particles with a Maxwellian velocity distribution) and were a cause for the initial optimism that fusion energy would be easy. They were actually due to electromagnetic acceleration during a plasma instability, an effect which cannot be scaled up to produce useful energy. (09 Oct 1997) |
| abstracting and indexing | Shortening or summarizing of documents; assigning of descriptors for referencing documents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| academies and institutes | Organizations representing specialised fields which are accepted as authoritative; may be non-governmental, university or an independent research organization, e.g., national academy of sciences, brookings institution, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accounts payable and receivable | Short-term debt obligations and assets occurring in the regular course of operational transactions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| aged, 80 and over | A person 80 years of age and older. (12 Dec 1998) |
| algae and fungi | Algae represent a group of spore-propagating plants, unicellular or undifferentiated into root, stem, and leaf. They include seaweed and many unicellular fresh water plants, most of which contain chlorophyll. They account for about 90% of the earth's photosynthetic activity. Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live as saprobes or parasites and include mushrooms, yeasts, smuts, molds, etc. They lack chlorophyll. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alkyl and aryl transferases | <enzyme> A somewhat heterogeneous class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of alkyl or related groups (excluding methyl groups). Registry number: EC 2.5 (12 Dec 1998) |
| allergy and immunology | A medical specialty concerned with the hypersensitivity of the individual to foreign substances and protection from the resultant infection or disorder. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alligators and crocodiles | Large, long-tailed reptiles, including caimans, of the order loricata. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Amine Precursor Uptake and Decarboxylation | <pharmacology, physiology> Paracrine cells of which argentaffin cells are an example. Usage of the term APUD is neither helpful nor memorable. Acronym: APUD (11 Nov 1997) |
| amino acids, peptides, and proteins | Amino acids and chains of amino acids connected by peptide linkages. (12 Dec 1998) |