Biotechnology and Genetics terms starting with W

21 terms

  1. w/v Abbreviation for weight per volume. The relative proportions of solid and liquid in a solution.
  2. walking See: chromosome walking; primer walking.
  3. wall pressure Pressure that a cell wall exerts against the turgor of the cell contents. Wall pressure is equal and opposite to the turgor potential.
  4. wash-out The loss of the slower growing micro-organism when two organisms are being grown together.
  5. water potential The pressure gradient that induces the flow of water, particularly with reference to plant water uptake from the soil, comprising the net effects of…
  6. water soaked See: vitrified.
  7. water stress Occurs when plants are unable to absorb enough water to replace that lost by transpiration. Short-term water stress leads to turgor loss (wilting).
  8. wax Water-insoluble esters of long-chain acids with long-chain alcohols. Waxes form protective waterproof layers on leaves, stems, fruits, animal fur and…
  9. Weed An undesirable plant.
  10. Weediness Unwanted effects of a plant.
  11. Western blot A test for detecting the specific antibodies to HIV in a person's blood. It is commonly used to verify positive EIA tests.
  12. wet weight See: fresh weight.
  13. wetting agent A substance (usually a detergent) that improves the contact of a liquid to a solid surface by reducing its surface tension.
  14. White blood cell (WBC) The primary effector cells against infection and tissue damage. WBCs are formed from the undifferentiated stem cell that can give rise to all blood cells.
  15. White Blood Cells Cells that fight infection.
  16. Wild type An organism as found in nature; the organism before it is genetically engineered.
  17. wilt Drooping of stems and foliage due to loss of cell turgor. May be caused by water stress or by disease.
  18. Wilting point The moisture content of soil at which plants start to wilt, but not to the extent that they fail to recover when placed in a humid atmosphere.
  19. wobble hypothesis An explanation of how one tRNA may recognize more than one codon. The first two bases of the mRNA codon and anticodon pair properly, but the third base in…
  20. Wolfram syndrome A rare autosomal recessive disorder that leads to many different abnormalities, including diabetes mellitus, deafness, and blindness.
  21. Working Draft DNA Sequence See: Draft DNA Sequence