| clinical lethal | A disorder that culminates in premature death. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| conditional-lethal mutant | A viral mutant that can replicate under some (permissive) conditions but not under other (restrictive or nonpermissive) conditions, the parent (wild type) strain being able to replicate under both conditions. See: suppressor-sensitive mutant, temperature-sensitive mutant. Synonym: conditional-lethal mutant. (05 Mar 2000) |
| conditionally lethal mutant | A viral mutant that can replicate under some (permissive) conditions but not under other (restrictive or nonpermissive) conditions, the parent (wild type) strain being able to replicate under both conditions. See: suppressor-sensitive mutant, temperature-sensitive mutant. Synonym: conditional-lethal mutant. (05 Mar 2000) |
| dominant lethal trait | Trait, expressed in the phenotype if present in the genotype, that precludes having descendants. All such cases are necessarily sporadic and must represent new mutations as the usual methods of classical genetics provide no means of demonstrating any genetic component whatsoever, except for tenuous arguments such as advanced paternal age. Molecular biology may help although the methods may be tedious; if there is an epistatic gene that may mask the trait, the logic is more tractable, though complex. (05 Mar 2000) |
| y-suppressed lethal gene | <genetics> In the fruit fly Drosophila, this is a recessive, lethal gene that kills XO flies but not normal XY male flies. (09 Oct 1997) |
| zygotic lethal gene | <genetics> A mutated or otherwise defective gene at embryonic or larval stages. (06 May 1997) |
| lethal | Deadly, fatal. Origin: L. Lethalis, from lethum = death (18 Nov 1997) |
| lethal coefficient | <microbiology> That concentration of disinfectant that kills bacteria at 20-25캜 in the shortest period of time. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal dwarfism | Dwarfism leading to intrauterine or neonatal death. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal equivalent | A combination of selective effects that on average have the same impact on the composition of the gene pool as one death; e.g., two carriers at 50% risk of dying would be the lethal equivalent of one carrier at 100% risk, in the population genetics of recessive traits lethal equivalent is expressed as twice the sum of the expected number of deaths ascribable to the genetic load. Expression used of the genetic load of recessive genes in heterozygous state that if in homozygous state would cause death or carry a risk of death. The expected number of deaths from all such genes is expressed in lethal equivalent. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal factor | A disorder that prevents effective reproduction by those affected; e.g., Klinefelter syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal gene | A gene that produces a genotype that leads to death of the organism before reproduction is possible or that precludes reproduction; for a recessive gene the homozygous or hemizygous state is lethal. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal midline granuloma | Destruction of the nasal septum, hard palate, lateral nasal walls, paranasal sinuses, skin of the face, orbit and nasopharynx by an inflammatory infiltrate with atypical lymphocytic and histiocytic cells; presumably a form of lymphoma in most cases. An obsolete term for polymorphic reticulosis. Synonym: granuloma gangrenescens, malignant granuloma, midline malignant reticulosis granuloma. (05 Mar 2000) |
| lethal mutation | <genetics, molecular biology> Mutation that eventually results in the death of an organism carrying the mutation. (18 Nov 1997) |
| absorbed dose | The amount of energy absorbed per unit mass of irradiated material at the target site; in radiation therapy, the former unit for absorbed dose is the rad; the current (S.I.) unit is the gray. (05 Mar 2000) |