| genetic | <biology> Pertaining to reproduction or to birth or origin. (07 May 1998) |
|---|---|
| genetic amplification | A process for producing an increase in pertinent genetic material, particularly for increasing the proportion of plasmid DNA to that of bacterial DNA. Includes the production of extrachromosomal copies of the genes for RNA. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic assimilation | <genetics> A situation in which a characteristic that is normally expressed only in certain environmental situations becomes fixed in a population so that it no longer requires environmental factors to be expressed. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic association | The occurrence together in a population, more often than can be readily explained by chance, of two or more traits of which at least one is known to be genetic. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic block | <biochemistry, molecular biology> An obstruction in a biochemical pathway caused by a mutation that has crippled production of an enzyme critical to the pathway. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic burden | The genetic debt due to harmful mutation but as yet undischarged. (In a large population of fixed size every mutation with diminished genetic fitness will eventually become extinct and depending on the details of inheritance and phenotype must be paid for by a fixed number of genetic deaths per mutation, the genetic debt.) (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic carrier | An unaffected heterozygote bearing a usually harmful recessive gene, a cancer that bears a dominant but latent age-dependent trait to have offspring with unbalanced karyotypes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic code | <molecular biology> Relationship between the sequence of bases in nucleic acid and the order of amino acids in the polypeptide synthesised from it. A sequence of three nucleic acid bases (a triplet) acts as a codeword (codon) for one amino acid. (18 Nov 1997) |
| genetic colonisation | <molecular biology> The process of a parasite (such as a virus) inserting genes into a host's genome which cause the host cell to synthesise products that are only useful to the parasite. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic complement | <biology, genetics> The set of chromosomes contained within any one particular cell. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic complementation | <genetics> The reappearance of wild-type characteristics in a cell or organism that has had two distinct mutations on the same chromosome. Two normal versions of two different mutant genes on different chromosomes affecting the same phenotype which, when inherited together, results in the wild-type phenotype despite the presence of mutant copies of the genes. (09 Oct 1997) |
| genetic complementation test | A test used to determine whether or not complementation (compensation in the form of dominance) will occur in a cell with a given mutant phenotype when another mutant genome, encoding the same mutant phenotype, is introduced into that cell. (12 Dec 1998) |
| genetic compound | In medical genetics, the presence of two different mutant alleles at the same loci. Synonym: genetic compound. (05 Mar 2000) |
| genetic counseling | <genetics> The genetic testing of couples who are planning to be parents in which their genomes are evaluated and they are given advice or information from a specialist regarding the likelihood of them having children with genetic diseases or defects. (07 May 1998) |
| genetic death | Death of the bearer of a gene at any age before generating living offspring. May be compatible with good health and long life. See: genetic lethal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| recombination, genetic | Production of new arrangements of genes by various mechanisms such as assortment and segregation, crossing over, gene conversion, transformation, conjugation, transduction, f-duction, or mixed infection of viruses. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| mobile genetic element | <molecular biology> Small, mobile DNA sequences that can replicate and insert copies at random sites within chromosomes. They have nearly identical sequences at each end, oppositely oriented (inverted) repeats and code for the enzyme, transposase, that catalyses their insertion. Bacteria have two types of transposon, simple transposons that have only the genes needed for insertion and complex transposons that contain genes in addition to those needed for insertion. Eukaryotes contain two classes of mobile genetic elements, the first are like bacterial transposons in that DNA sequences move directly. The second class (retrotransposons) move by producing RNA that is transcribed, by reverse transcriptase, into DNA which is then inserted at a new site. (13 Nov 1997) |
| models, genetic | Theoretical representations that simulate the behaviour or activity of genetic processes or phenomena. They include the use of mathematical equations, computers, and other electronic equipment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| conjugation, genetic | A parasexual mechanism in bacteria for achieving unidirectional transfer of all or part of the chromosome from an f+ or hfr donor ("male") to an f- ("female") recipient. (12 Dec 1998) |
| polymorphic genetic markers | Inherited characteristics that occur within a given population as two or more traits. (05 Mar 2000) |
| skin diseases, genetic | Diseases of the skin with a genetic component, usually the result of various inborn errors of metabolism. (12 Dec 1998) |
| suppression, genetic | The restoration of the wild-type phenotype in an organism possessing a mutationally altered genotype. The effects of the mutation may be suppressed by a second "suppressor" mutation on a different gene, by a suppressor mutation on the same gene but located at a distance from the site of the primary mutation, or by the presence of a cytoplasmic suppressor due to a change in non-chromosomal DNA. (12 Dec 1998) |
| transcription, genetic | The transfer of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA by DNA-directed RNA polymerase. It includes reverse transcription and transcription of early and late genes expressed early in an organism's life cycle or during later development. (12 Dec 1998) |
| transduction, genetic | Transfer of bacterial DNA by phages from the infected bacterium in which the DNA originates to another bacterium. (12 Dec 1998) |
| transformation, genetic | The unidirectional transfer and incorporation of foreign DNA by prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells and the subsequent recombination of part or all of that DNA into the cell's genome. (glossary of genetics: classical and molecular, 5th ed) (12 Dec 1998) |
| translation, genetic | Formation of peptides on ribosomes, directed by messenger RNA. (12 Dec 1998) |
| epistasis, genetic | A form of gene interaction whereby one gene interferes with the phenotypic expression of another nonallelic gene or genes. Genes whose expression is altered by nonallelic genes are said to be "hypostatic" or to exhibit "hypostasis". (12 Dec 1998) |