Food Biotechnology terms starting with M

213 terms

  1. Microbe A microorganism.
  2. microbial mat Layered microbial populations, usually growing on the surface of a solid medium or on a membrane.
  3. Microbial mats (biofilms) Layered groups or communities of microbial populations.
  4. microbody A frequently spherical cellular organelle, bound by a single membrane, 20-60 nm in diameter, and containing a variety of enzymes.
  5. microdroplet array (Abbreviation: MDA). A technique used to simultaneously evaluate large numbers of media modifications, employing small quantities of medium into which are…
  6. microfibril Microscopic fibres visible only at the high magnification of the electron microscope.
  7. microgametophyte See: pollen.
  8. micrograft See: shoot-tip graft.
  9. Microinjection A means to introduce a solution of DNA, protein, or other soluble material into a cell using a fine microcapillary pipet.
  10. micronucleus A nucleus, distinct from and smaller than the main nucleus, but lying within the same cell.
  11. micronutrient (MY-kroh-NOO-tree-ent) A substance the body needs in tiny amounts to grow and stay healthy. Examples are vitamins and minerals.
  12. microplast Vesicle produced by subdivision and fragmentation of protoplasts or thin-walled cells.
  13. microprojectile bombardment See: biolistics.
  14. micropropagation Miniaturized in vitro multiplication and/or regeneration of plant material under aseptic and controlled environmental conditions.
  15. micropyle 1. A small opening in the surface of a plant ovule through which the pollen tube passes prior to fertilization. 2.
  16. microsatellite A short sequence of DNA, usually 1 to 4 basepairs (a unit of DNA), that is repeated together in a row along the DNA molecule.
  17. microspore The immature male gametophyte in seed plants; the haploid male cell that ripens into a pollen grain.
  18. microtuber Miniature tuber, produced in tissue culture, which is readily regenerable into a normal tuberous plant.
  19. Microtubule Self-assembling components of the cytoskeleton. Microtubules are cylindrical protein polymers, interconnected by cross-bridging proteins, which…
  20. mid-parent value The average of the phenotypic measure, with respect to a given trait, of the two parents used to generate the population being analysed.
  21. middle lamella A thin exclusively plant membrane separating two adjacent protoplasts and remaining as a distinct cementing layer between adjacent cell walls.
  22. mineralization The conversion of organic compounds into inorganic (mineral) ones. For example, the conversion of ethanol into carbon dioxide and water.
  23. mini-prep A small-scale preparation of plasmid or phage DNA. Used to purify cloned DNA from the DNA of the vector.
  24. Minimal tillage practices Practices that allow farmers to reduce the tilling of the land to conserve topsoil and its nutrients.
  25. minimum effective cell density The cell density below which reproducible cell growth fails. The minimum density is determined by both the source function of the tissue (species…
  26. minimum inoculum size The critical volume of inoculum required to initiate culture growth, due to the diffusive loss of cell materials into the medium.
  27. minisatellite A form of variable number tandem repeats in which the repeat unit size ranges from 10-100 bp. Used for DNA fingerprinting following Southern hybridization.
  28. minituber Small tubers (5-15 mm in diameter) formed on shoot cultures or cuttings of tuber-forming crops, such as potato.
  29. mismatch The occurrence of a non-complementary pairs of bases in a double helix of DNA, e.g. A:C, G:T.
  30. mismatch repair A DNA repair process that corrects mismatched base pairs.
  31. missense mutation A mutation that changes a codon for one amino acid into a codon specifying another amino acid.
  32. mist propagation Application of fine droplets of water to maintain humidity around plantlets or cuttings, which have not yet developed effective roots.
  33. mite Free-living and parasitic arachnids. Infestation of plant crops reduces yield through the destruction of leaf tissue.
  34. Mitochondrial DNA (Abbreviation: mtDNA). A circular DNA found in mitochondria. In mammals, mtDNA makes up less than 1% of the total DNA, but in plants the amount is…
  35. mitochondrion (pl.: mitochondria) Organelle possessing its own DNA which appear in all eukaryotic cells (and never in prokaryotic cells) and produce adenosine…
  36. mitogen A substance that can cause cells to initiate mitosis.
  37. Mitosis (my-TOH-sis) The process by which a single parent cell divides to make two new daughter cells.
  38. mixed bud A bud containing both rudimentary leaves and flowers.
  39. mixoploid Groups of cells with variable (a mix of euploid, aneuploid, polyploid ) chromosome numbers.
  40. mobilization 1. The transfer between bacteria of a non-conjugative plasmid by a conjugative plasmid. 2.
  41. mobilizing function The genes on a plasmid that give it the ability to facilitate the transfer of either a non-conjugative or a conjugative plasmid from one bacterium to…
  42. mode In a frequency distribution, the class having the greatest frequency.
  43. model See Exhibit.
  44. modern biotechnology The application of: a. In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA ) and direct injection of nucleic acid into…
  45. Modification Any change to the terms of a mortgage loan, including changes to the interest rate, loan balance, or loan term.
  46. modifying gene A gene that affects the expression of some other gene.
  47. MOET Abbreviation for multiple ovulation and embryo transfer.
  48. Molecular biology The study of the biochemical and mo- lecular interactions within living cells.
  49. molecular chaperone See: chaperone.
  50. Molecular cloning The biological amplification of a specific DNA sequence through mitotic division of a host cell into which it has been transformed or transfected.
  51. Molecular genetics The study of the flow and regulation of genetic information between DNA, RNA, and protein molecules.
  52. molecular marker (muh-LEH-kyoo-ler ...) A biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a…
  53. molecular pharming See: biopharming.
  54. Molecule The smallest particle of a substance that has all of the physical and chemical properties of that substance. Molecules are made up of one or more atoms.
  55. mono-unsaturates Oils containing mono-unsaturated fatty acids (i.e. where one -CH2-CH2- group in the hydrocarbon chain is replaced by -CH=CH-).
  56. Monoclonal antibodies Immunoglobulin molecules of single- epitope specificity that are secreted by a clone of B cells.
  57. monoclonal antibody (MAH-noh-KLOH-nul AN-tih-BAH-dee) A type of protein made in the laboratory that can locate and bind to substances in the body, including tumor cells.
  58. monocot Abbreviation for monocotyledon.
  59. monocotyledon (Abbreviation: monocot). A flowering plant whose embryo has one cotyledon. Examples are cereals (corn, wheat, rice etc.), banana, and lily.
  60. Monoculture The agricultural practice of cultivating crops consisting of genetically similar organisms.
  61. monoecious A plant species that has separate male and female flowers on the same plant (e.g. maize).
  62. monogastric animal A non-ruminant animal with a simple stomach.
  63. Monogenic Controlled by or associated with a single gene.
  64. monohybrid cross A cross between parents differing in only one trait or in which only one trait is being considered.
  65. monohybrid Heterozygous with respect to one gene.
  66. monokine Generic name for proteins that are released by monocytes to act on other cells involved in the immune response. A sub-class of cytokines.
  67. monolayer A single layer of cells growing on a surface.
  68. monolignols The building blocks of lignin that undergo polymerization.
  69. monomer (MAH-nuh-mer) A molecule that can join with other identical monomers to form a larger structure called a polymer.
  70. monomorphic Absence of variation for a marker, gene, chromosome, or genetically determined trait in a population.
  71. monophyletic A group of organisms that are assumed to have originated from the same ancestor.
  72. monoploid See: haploid.
  73. monosaccharide A simple sugar (e.g. glucose, fructose). See:.
  74. monosomic A form of aneuploidy in which a diploid organism lacks one member of a homologous chromosome pair.
  75. monozygotic twin One of a pair of twins derived from a single fertilized egg. Synonym: identical twin.
  76. morphogen A substance that stimulates the development of form or structure in an organism.
  77. morphogenesis The development, through growth and differentiation, of form and structure in an organism.
  78. morphogenic response The effect on the developmental history of a plant or its parts exposed to a given set of growth conditions or to a change in the environment.
  79. Morphology (mor-FAH-loh-jee) The science of the form and structure of organisms (plants, animals, and other forms of life).
  80. Mosaic A web browser popular before the introduction of Netscape and Internet Explorer.
  81. mother plant See: donor plant.
  82. MOTIF A conserved sequence of nucleotides or amino acids that can be associated with some function of, respectively, a length of DNA or a protein.
  83. Movable genetic element (See Transposon.)
  84. mRNA See Messenger RNA.
  85. MRU Abbreviation for minimum recognition units. See: dAb.
  86. mtDNA Abbreviation for mitochondrial DNA.
  87. multi-copy Describing plasmids which replicate to produce many copies per host bacterial cell.
  88. Multi-locus probe A probe that hybridizes to a number of different sites in the genome of an organism. (See Probe.)
  89. multigene family A set of genes (not necessarily mapping to the same genomic location) that are related in nucleotide sequence and/or that produce polypeptides with…
  90. multigenic Trait controlled by several genes, as opposed to monogenic. Synonym: polygenic.
  91. multimer A protein made up of more than one polypeptide chain.
  92. multiple alleles The existence of more than two alleles at a locus in a population.
  93. multiple arbitrary amplicon profiling A collective term for a number of related polymerase chain reaction techniques, all of which use arbitrary primers, and which generate a number of…
  94. multiple cloning site (Abbreviation: MCS). See: polylinker.
  95. multiple drop array (Abbreviation: MDA). See: microdroplet array.
  96. multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (Abbreviation: MOET). A technology by which a single female that usually produces only one or two offspring can produce a litter of offspring.
  97. multiplex 1. The simultaneous amplification of a number of amplicons in a single polymerase chain reaction, achieved by including more than one set of primers in…
  98. multivalent vaccine A vaccine designed to elicit an immune response either to more than one infectious agent or to several different antigenic determinants of a single agent.
  99. mutable gene A gene which has an unusually high rate of mutation.
  100. Mutagen (MYOO-tuh-jen) Anything that causes a mutation (a change in the DNA of a cell).