| fluorescence in situ hybridization | <molecular biology, technique> A type of in situ hybridization in which target sequences are stained with fluorescent dye so their location and size can be determined using fluorescence microscopy. This staining is sufficiently distinct that the hybridization signal can be seen both in metaphase spreads and in interphase nuclei. Acronym: FISH (25 Jun 1999) |
|---|---|
| fluorescent in situ hybridization | See FISH. (12 Dec 1998) |
| blot | 1. To spot, stain, or bespatter, as with ink. "The brief was writ and blotted all with gore." (Gascoigne) 2. To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil. "It blots thy beauty, as frosts do bite the meads." (Shak) 3. To stain with infamy; to disgrace. "Blot not thy innocence with guiltless blood." (Rowe) 4. To obliterate, as writing with ink; to cancel; to efface; generally with out; as, to blot out a word or a sentence. Often figuratively; as, to blot out offenses. "One act like this blots out a thousand crimes." (Dryden) 5. To obscure; to eclipse; to shadow. "He sung how earth blots the moon's gilded wane." (Cowley) 6. To dry, as writing, with blotting paper. Synonym: To obliterate, expunge, erase, efface, cancel, tarnish, disgrace, blur, sully, smear, smutch. Origin: Cf. Dan. Plette. See Blot. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| blot, northern | A technique in molecular biology, used mainly to separate and identify pieces of RNA. Called a Northern blot only because it is similar to a Southern blot (which is named after its inventor, the British biologist M.E. Southern). (12 Dec 1998) |
| blot, southern | A common test for checking for a match between DNA molecules. DNA fragments are separated by agarose gel electrophoresis, transferred (blotted) onto membrane filters, and hybridised with complementary radiolabelled probes. The aim is to detect specific base sequenceswith the probes. Lest all of this sound esoteric, note that in the television series The X Files a Southern blot was done (in this case, to learn if some alien virus genome had been integrated into a person's genome). The Southern blot is named after its inventor, the British biologist M.E. Southern. There is also a Northern blot and a Western blot. (12 Dec 1998) |
| blot, western | A technique in molecular biology, used to separate and identify proteins. Called a Western blot merely because it has some similarity to a Southern blot (which is named after its inventor, the British biologist M.E. Southern). (12 Dec 1998) |
| western blot | <technique> A technique similar to Southern blotting, though it is used for proteins. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Western blot analysis | A procedure in which proteins separated by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels are transferred (blotted) onto nitrocellulose or nylon membranes and identified by specific complexing with antibodies that are either pre-or post-tagged with a labelled secondary protein. See: immunoblot. Synonym: Western blot, Western blotting. Origin: coined to distinguish it from eponymic Southern blot a. (05 Mar 2000) |
| southern blot | A technique used for searching for a specific DNA fragment. The process is as follows: 1. separate DNA fragments by gel electrophoresis 2. Change pH of gel to basic, thus allowing disruption of H-bonds 3. blot gel with nitrocellulose paper 4. Heat paper so as to fix DNA fragments 5. probe with labelled messenger RNA or cDNA 6. wash Complementary mRNA/cDNA fragments will have hybridised. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Southern blot analysis | A procedure to separate and identify DNA sequences; DNA fragments are separated by electrophoresis on an agarose gel, transferred (blotted) onto a nitrocellulose or nylon membrane, and hybridised with complementary (labelled) nucleic acid probes. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Northern blot | <molecular biology, procedure> An electroblotting method in which RNA is transferred to a filter and detected by hybridisation to (32)P labelled RNA or DNA. (18 Nov 1997) |
| Northern blot analysis | A procedure similar to the Southern blot analysis, used mostly to separate and identify RNA fragments; typically via transferring RNA fragments from an agarose gel to a nitrocellulose filter followed by detection with a suitable probe. Origin: coined to distinguish it from eponymic Southern blot a. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ink blot tests | Projective tests utilizing ink blots to which a subject responds. They are used in personality diagnosis. (12 Dec 1998) |
| zoo blot analysis | A procedure using Southern blot analysis to test the ability of a nucleic acid probe from one species to hybridise with the DNA fragment of another species. (05 Mar 2000) |