ABE Chapter 5 Glossary Terms

Front

Amino Acid

Back

The building block of proteins. There are 20 of them. Each is an organic substance that has two groups attached to it—an amino group (NH2) and a carboxylic acid group (COOH).

Front

Aseptic Technique

Back

A set of procedures and carefully controlled conditions to prevent contamination by pathogens.

Front

Bacterial Conjugation

Back

A process by which two bacterial cells join and transfer genetic material from one to another.

Front

Codon

Back

A group of three mRNA bases that encode a single amino acid.

Front

Competent

Back

A cell that has the ability to be transformed genetically by taking up DNA from the environment.

Front

Culture

Back

An isolated population of cells that have been grown in a specially prepared nutrient medium.

Front

Eukaryote

Back

An organism that shelters its genes inside a nucleus and has several linear chromosomes.

Front

Exon

Back

The segment of a gene that codes for a protein. They are both transcribed and translated.

Front

Expressed

Back

When information encoded in a gene has been converted into messenger RNA and then to a protein. This process is called expression.

Front

Intron

Back

The segment of a gene that does not code for a protein. They are transcribed into mRNA but are removed before the rest of the gene is translated into a protein.