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Home >> Biotechnology Dictionary >> Immediate early gene - Insertion mutations
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Immediate early gene -
a viral gene that is expressed promptly after infection.
Immobilised cells - cells entrapped in matrices such as alginate, polyacrylamide and agarose designed for use in membrane and filter bioreactors.
Immortalisation - the genetic transformation of a cell type into a cell line which can proliferate indefinitely.
Immortalising oncogene - a gene that upon transfection enables a primary cell to glow indefinitely in culture.
Immune response - the processes, including the synthesis of antibodies, that are used by vertebrates to respond to the presence of a foreign antigen.
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Immunosensor - a biosensor having an antibody as biological part.
Immunosuppression - the suppression of immune response. Immunosuppression is necessary following organ transplants in order to prevent the host rejecting the grafted organ.
Immunosuppressor - a substance, an agent or a condition that prevents or diminishes the immune response.
Immunotherapy - the use of an antibody or a fusion protein containing the antigen binding site of an antibody to cure a disease or enhance the well being of a patient.
Immunotoxin - protein drugs consisting of an antibody joined to a toxin molecule. Immunotoxins can be made by linking toxin and antibody molecules chemically, or by fusing the genes for the toxin and the antibody. The antibody portion of the molecule facilitates binding to a target molecule or cell, and the toxin inactivates or kills the target molecule or cell.
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Immunisation the production of immunity in an individual by artificial means. Active immunization involves the introduction, either orally or by infection, of specially treated bacteria , viruses or their toxins so as to stimulate the production of antibodies.
Immunity - the state of relative insusceptibility of an animal or plant to infection by disease producing organisms or to the harmful effects of their poisons.
Inbred line - the product of inbreeding, i.e., the mating of individuals that have ancestors in common; in plants and laboratory animals, it refers to populations resulting from at least 6 generations of selfing or 20 generations of brother-sister mating, that are for all practical purposes, completely homozygous. In farm animals, the term is sometimes used to describe populations that have resulted from several generations of the mating of close relatives, without having reached complete homozygosity.
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Immuno-affinity chromatography - a purification technique in which an antibody is bound to a matrix and is subsequently used to bind and separate a protein from a complex mixture. cf affinity chromatography.
Immunoassay - an assay system which detects proteins by using an antibody specific to that protein. A positive result is seen as a precipitate of an antibody protein complex. The antibody can be a linked to a radioactive atom or to an enzyme which catalyses an easily monitored reaction such as a change in colour.
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Immunochemical control -
use of immune agents to combat infections.
Immunogenicity - the ability to elicit an immune response.
Immunoglobulin - one of a group of proteins (globulins) in the body that act as antibodies. They are produced by specialised cells (B lymphocytes) and are present in blood serum and other body fluids.
Inbreeding depression - reduction in vigour, yield, etc., of a population that is commonly seen as the level of inbreeding increases. The traits that show greatest inbreeding depression are those that are most closely associated with viability and reproductive ability.
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Impeller - an agitator that is used for mixing the contents of a bioreactor.
In vivo gene therapy - the delivery of a gene or genes to a tissue or organ of an individual to alleviate a genetic disorder.
Inactivated agent - a virus, bacterium or other organism that has been treated to prevent it from causing a disease.
Inbreeding - matings between individuals that have one or more ancestors in common, the extreme condition being self fertilisation, which occurs in many plants and some primitive animals.
Inclusion body - protein that is overproduced in a recombinant bacterium and forms a crystalline array inside the bacterial cell.
Incompatibility - selectively restricted mating competence, which limits fertilisation, such as lack of proper functions by otherwise normal pollen grains or certain pistils, a condition that may be caused by a variety of factors.
Incompatibility group - a classification scheme indicating which plasmids can coexist within a single cell. Plasmids must belong to different incompatibility groups to coexist within the same cell. Plasmids that belong to the same incompatibility group are unstable when placed in the same cell, A plasmid cloning vector should always belong to an incompatibility group different from that of the host bacterium's endogenous plasmids.
Incomplete dominance - a type of gene action in which heterozygotes have a phenotype that is distinctly different from, and intermediate to, the homozygous phenotypes.
Incomplete penetrance - when some individuals in a population have a specific genotype that causes an abnormality but are not affected.
Incubation - the hatching of eggs by means of heat, either natural or artificial.
Incubator - an apparatus in which environmental conditions (light, photoperiod, temperature, humidity, etc.) are fully controlled, and used for hatching eggs, multiplying micro-organisms, culturing plants, etc. cf culture room; growth cabinet.
Indehiscent - describing a fruit or fruiting body that does not open to release its seeds or spores when ripe.
Independent assortment - the random distribution of alleles (from different loci) to the gametes that occurs when genes are located in different chromosomes or far apart on large chromosomes. The distribution of alleles at one locus is independent of other the distribution of alleles at another locus cf linkage.
Inheritance - the transmission of particular characteristics and/or genes from generation to generation.
Inhibitor - any substance or object that retards a chemical reaction; a major or modifier gene that interferes with a reaction or with the expression of another gene.
Initial noun cells in a meristem that remain permanently meristematic and form tissues of particular structure and function.
Inositol lipid - a membrane anchored phospholipid that transduces hormonal signals by stimulating the release of any of several chemical messengers. See phospholipid.
Insecticide - a substance that kills insects.
Insert - a DNA molecule that is incorporated into a cloning vector.
Insertion element - generic term for DNA sequences found in bacteria capable of genome insertion.
Postulated to be responsible for site specific phage and plasmid integration.
Insertion mutations - changes in the base sequence of a DNA molecule resulting from the random integration of DNA from another source.
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