| vector | 1. <mathematics> A term to describe something that has both direction and magnitude. 2. <molecular biology> Commonly term for a plasmid that can be used to transfer DNA sequences from one organism to another. Different vectors may have properties particularly appropriate to give protein expression in the recipient or for cloning or may have different selectable markers. Recombinant DNA systems especially suited for production of large quantities of specific proteins in bacterial, yeast, insect, or mammalian cell systems. See: transfection. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| vector loop | <physiology> An irregular, usually elliptical, curve representing the average direction and magnitude of the heart's action from moment to moment throughout the cardiac cycle. See: vector, vectorcardiogram. (06 Mar 2000) |
| vector-borne | Denoting a disease or infection that is transmitted by an invertebrate vector. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vectorcardiogram | <physiology> A graphic representation of the magnitude and direction of the heart's action currents in the form of vector loops. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vectorcardiography | <physiology> Recording of the moment-to-moment electromotive forces of the heart on a plane of the body surface delineated as a vector function of time. (12 Dec 1998) |
| vectorial | Relating in any way to a vector. (05 Mar 2000) |
| vectorial capacity | <epidemiology> In vector-borne infections such as malaria, the vectorial capacity is a concept analogous to the contact rate in directly-transmitted diseases. It is, thus, a function of (a) the vector's density in relation to its vertebrate host, (b) the frequency with which it takes blood meals on the host species, (c) the duration of the latent period in the vector, and (d) the vector's life expectancy. (05 Dec 1998) |
| vectorial synthesis | <cell biology> Term usually applied to the mode of synthesis of proteins destined for export from the cell. As the protein is made it moves (vectorially) through the membrane of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, to which the ribosome is attached and into the cisternal space. (06 Mar 2000) |
| vectorial transport | <physiology> Transport of an ion or molecule across an epithelium in a certain direction (e.g. absorption of glucose by the gut). Vectorial transport implies a nonuniform distribution of transport proteins on the plasma membranes of two faces of the epithelium. (06 Mar 2000) |
| biological vector | A vector, such as the Anopheles mosquito for malarial agents or the tsetse fly for agents of African sleeping sickness, in which the agent multiplies prior to being transmitted to another host. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| radius vector | 1. <mathematics> A straight line (or the length of such line) connecting any point, as of a curve, with a fixed point, or pole, round which the straight line turns, and to which it serves to refer the successive points of a curve, in a system of polar coordinates. See Coordinate. 2. <astronomy> An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mammalian expression vector | <molecular biology> A vector that will produce large amounts of eukaryotic protein taxonomy notwithstanding, and not necessarily a protein from a mammal. (20 Mar 1998) |
| manifest vector | Projection of a spatial cardiac vector on a single plane. (05 Mar 2000) |
| recombinant vector | A vector into which a foreign DNA has been inserted. Synonym: vector. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mean manifest vector | A single cardiac vector representing the average of all vector's present during a given time interval. Synonym: mean manifest vector. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mean vector | A single cardiac vector representing the average of all vector's present during a given time interval. Synonym: mean manifest vector. (05 Mar 2000) |
| viral vector | <molecular biology> Viral DNA that has been modified to serve as a vector for recombinant DNA. (11 Nov 1997) |
| mechanical vector | A vector that conveys pathogens to a susceptible individual without essential biological development of the pathogens in the vector, as in the transfer of septic organisms on the feet or mouth parts of the housefly. (05 Mar 2000) |
| replacement vector | A cloning vector, such as a bacteriophage, in which some of the DNA of the vector can be replaced with foreign DNA. (09 Oct 1997) |
| retroviral vector | <molecular biology> See Retroviridae. Retroviral vectors are used in the genetic modification of cells as a means of introducing foreign DNA into the genome. For example: retroviral vector 's encoding histochemical markers (reporter genes) are used in the study of neural cell lineage in vertebrates. Retroviral vector's may contain the bacterial lacZ gene that encodes for the enzyme _ galactosidase. When the retrovirally infected cells divide, they replicate the foreign DNA. Progeny of infected cells will therefore express the protein and can then be detected histochemically. (11 Jan 1998) |
| cloning vector | <molecular biology> A DNA molecule originating from a virus (plasmid vector), or the cell of a higher organism into which another DNA fragment of appropriate size can be integrated without loss of the vectors capacity for self- replication. Vectors introduce foreign DNA into host cells, where it can be reproduced in large quantities. They are also used to insert DNA from one cell type to another. Examples are plasmids, cosmids, and yeast artificial chromosomes, vectors are often recombinant molecules containing DNA sequences from several sources. Cloning vectors are usually designed to have convenient restriction sites that can be cut to generate sticky end to which the DNA that is to be cloned can be ligated easily. (12 Mar 1998) |
| secretion vector | <molecular biology> A DNA vector in which the protein product is both expressed and secreted (excreted) from the cell. (09 Oct 1997) |
| host-vector system | A combination of a bacterial host cell (i.e. A specific strain) and a virus vector (i.e. A particular bacteriophage strain) which work well together for DNA cloning. (09 Oct 1997) |
| shuttle vector | <molecular biology> Cloning vector that replicate in cells of more than one organism, for example E. Coli and yeast. This combination allows DNA from yeast to be grown in E. Coli and tested directly for complementation in yeast. Shuttle vectors are constructed so that they have the origins of replication of the various hosts. (18 Nov 1997) |