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The Facts on File Dictionary of Biotechnology And Genetic Engineering: Dictionary of Biotechnology And Genetic Engineering PDF

288 Pages·2006·2.48 MB·English
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The Facts On File DICTIONARY of BIOTECHNOLOGY and GENETIC ENGINEERING Third Edition The Facts On File DICTIONARY of BIOTECHNOLOGY and GENETIC ENGINEERING Third Edition Mark L. Steinberg, Ph.D. Sharon D. Cosloy, Ph.D. The Facts On File Dictionary of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Third Edition Copyright © 2006, 2001, 1994 by Mark L. Steinberg, Ph.D., and Sharon Cosloy, Ph.D. Illustrations © 2006 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Steinberg, Mark (Mark L.) The Facts on File dictionary of biotechnology and genetic engineering/ Mark L. Steinberg and Sharon D. Cosloy—Third ed. p. cm. — (The Facts On File science library) Includes index. ISBN 0-8160-6351-6 (alk.paper) 1. Biotechnology—Dictionaries. 2. Genetic engineering—Dictionaries. I. Cosloy, Sharon D. II. Title. III. Series. TP248.16.S84 2000 660.6′03—dc21 00-035463 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quanti- ties for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Spe- cial Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can fi nd Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfi le.com Text and cover design by Cathy Rincon Printed in the United States of America MP FOF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 This book is printed on acid-free paper. This edition is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Sharon Cosloy by her children, Michael and Rebecca, and her husband, Edward. Sharon was a loving mother, a devoted wife, a dedicated mentor, and an accomplished professor and researcher. And above all, she was a kind and gentle woman with a bright spirit that still lives on today through the people who were fortunate enough to be touched in life by her. From MLS: To Sharon, in memoriam, a good friend and valued colleague. You are greatly missed. CONTENTS Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Entries A to Z 1 Appendixes 261 Acronyms (and Other Abbreviations) 262 The Chemical Elements 267 Periodic Table 268 The Genetic Code 269 P urine and Pyrimidine Bases Found 270 in Nucleic Acids S ide Chains (R Groups) for 271 Individual Amino Acids Bioinformatics Web Sites 272 Enzymes Used in Gene Cloning 274 PREFACE The last decades of the 20th century produced a dramatic revolution in the fi eld of biology in which, for the fi rst time, the ability to modify the genetic makeup of higher organisms in the laboratory rather than by the random forces of natural selection was realized. This new era was born out of criti- cal discoveries in the mid-1970s that led to the appearance of new fi elds of molecular genetics variously known as gene cloning, genetic engineering, and biotechnology. The central theme of genetic engineering is the introduction of genetic material altered in a laboratory into an organism different from that from which it was originally derived. The introduction of genes from higher organisms into microorganisms made it possible to isolate, amplify, study and ultimately engineer individual genes for a variety of specialized purposes. These techniques have also allowed scientists to look closely at the structure, function, and regulation of genes and their proteins. Genetic engineering has given rise to technologies that were unthinkable barely two decades ago: recombinant antibodies to fi ght cancer, the isolation of genes responsible for genetic diseases, the synthesis of unlimited quantities of therapeutic agents, human hormones and critical blood factors in bacterial “factories,” the creation of genetically engineered plants and animals, and the decoding of the human genome—only a few examples of technologies that have been realized even at the time of the fi rst printing of this dictionary. Much of the research in biotechnology and genetic engineering has moved from the academic world into the industrial setting. As a consequence, many new and potential applications are in the hands of private enterprises where, fueled by more substantial funding and motivated by the forces of the market- place, the development of new products has reached an explosive pace. This has also meant that even as the rapidly increasing pace of progress taxes the ability to keep up with new developments, there is an ever-increasing need to understand the legal and ethical issues that inevitably accompany any new technology. However, in contrast to other new technologies, the products of genetic engineering deal directly with fundamental biological processes and are, by their very nature, certain to have an immediate and profound impact on all areas of human health. The purpose of this dictionary is to provide readers with access to the basic vocabulary of modern biotechnology and genetic engineering so that those with even an elementary knowledge of basic biology and biochemistry will be able to follow the fl ood of fast-breaking developments in biotechnology and genetic engineering that constantly appears in the media. At the time of the fi rst printing of The Facts On File Dictionary of Biotech- nology and Genetic Engineering, molecular cloning of genes had only recently matured. Even then, rapidly accumulating data from large-scale sequence analyses and the development of new techniques for amplifi cation of DNA at the microscale level were already yielding information that allowed for the Preface determination of gene function, including the molecular nature of defects underlying numerous genetic diseases. A revised edition of the dictionary added terminology of the developing biomedical fi elds of molecular medicine, DNA technology, gene therapy, and genomics. In recent years, new areas of research have elucidated signaling pathways that are now known to regulate essential biochemical pathways, including cell growth, metabolism, and dif- ferentiation. Many modern pharmaceuticals are agents that target critical signaling pathways involved in disease processes. Among these are drugs for the treatment of high blood pressure, allergies, sexual dysfunction, anti- infl ammatory and anti-viral agents, various cancer chemotherapies, and many others. In a parallel track, the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, together with the computer technologies for data mining and relational analyses, created the new area of computational biology known as bioinfor- matics. The application of bioinformatic methods to burgeoning nucleotide and protein databases has yielded new insights into many genetic diseases and has helped elucidate the relationships between genes and the biochemical pathways that the gene products regulate. Bioinformatics is currently provid- ing new approaches to drug design based on predictive computer models to tailor drugs to act on specifi c molecular targets. The dictionary was updated to account for these as well as other new developments in this rapidly chang- ing fi eld. The new “third edition” of the dictionary focuses on the new terminology in the evolving areas of genomics, bioinformatics, cell signaling, and molecular medicine. In addition, there are a number of biochemical terms pertaining to recent advances in medicines for the treatment of viral diseases, mental ill- ness, cholesterol metabolism, plant engineering, and stem cell research. Since this book addresses an audience from diverse backgrounds and covers a broad fi eld, we attempted to include both basic as well as more technical ter- minology in a number of areas including plant and animal biology in order to meet the needs of as many readers as possible. There has also been an attempt to make the dictionary self-contained in the sense that, in cases where techni- cal terms appear in defi nitions, these terms will be defi ned elsewhere in the book. It is anticipated that the dictionary will be of benefi t to a wide-ranging audience, including high school and college students, lawyers, physicians, sci- entists, or others with a particular need to keep abreast of the rapidly develop- ing areas of biotechnology and genetic engineering. x

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