| genetic testing | Identifying foetuses or infants afflicted with hereditary diseases or conditions, and carriers of recessive disorders by means of DNA analysis. See: DNA markers, familial screening, prenatal screening. Synonym: genetic testing. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| genetic toxicology | <study> This is the study of chemicals which can damage the genetic structure of living organisms (including humans) and thus cause problems such as mutations, cancer and birth defects. (09 Oct 1997) |
| genetic transformation | <molecular biology> Genetic change brought about by the introduction of exogenous DNA into a cell. See: transformation, germ line transformation, transfection. (18 Nov 1997) |
| genetic variance | Within a population, the measure of how much of the variation of a particular phenotype is due to genotypic variation (as opposed to environmental factors. An example might be the height of a human as determined by genes inherited from the human's parents. See: environmental variance. (09 Oct 1997) |
| genetic vectors | Plasmids, bacteriophages, or viruses used during recombinant DNA techniques that transport foreign genes into recipient cells. Genetic vectors possess a functional replicator site and contain a genetic marker to facilitate their selective recognition. (12 Dec 1998) |
| 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) |