Branching enzyme Enzyme that catalyses the transfer of a segment of
1,4-a-b-glucan chain to a primary hydroxyl group in a similar chain, forming
a branchpoint in a polysaccharide chain.
Breeding Process of utilizing the genetic properties of crops or livestock to
produce new species with potential benefits for farming or to improve existing
varieties.
Brine shrimp bioassay The use of the amount of some substance that is essential
or detrimental to organismal functions besides survival and growth as an
indicator for said phenomena.
Broodstock Mature fish raised or kept for breeding purposes.
Bud In plants, structure from which shoot, leaf or flower develops; incipient
outgrowth, as limb buds in animal embryo, from which limbs develop.
Budding Production of buds; method of asexual reproduction common in sponges,
coelenterates and some other invertebrates, in which new individuals develop as
outgrowths of the parent organism, and may eventually be set free; artificial
vegetative propagation by insertion of a bud within the bark of another plant; cell
from the parent cell; release of certain animal viruses from the host cell by their
envelopment in a piece of plasma membrane which subsequently pinches off
from the cell division by the outgrowth of a new cell.
Byssus Tuft of strong filaments secreted by the byssogenous gland of certain
bivalve molluscs, by which they become attached to substrate; the stalk of
certain fungi.
CAAT box Conserved sequence in the promoter region of some eukaryotic genes
about 70–80 base pairs upstream from the start-point of transcription, and which
is involved in control of initiation of transcription.
Caccolithophorids Unicellular members of the haptophyte algae that are
characterized by a covering of small, ornate calcium carbonate scales.
Cachectin A protein also known as tumour necrosis factor. Its entirely separate
role as cachectin involves inhibiting enzymes of lipid utilization, disturbing lipid
metabolism and causing cachexia (wasting), as in patients with some cancers.
Cadherins One of the main families of cell adhesion molecules. They are cell
surface proteins that can bind an identical cadherin molecule on another cell in a
calcium dependent interaction, causing cells to bind strongly to each other. The
family includes the E-cadherins, N-cadherins, P-cadherins and VE-cadherins.
Callus Plant tissue that has undergone a healing process following a wound or
infection with a pathogen.
Canal raphe A tubelike structure extending longitudinally along the valves of
some pennate diatoms that opens externally via the raphe slit.
426
Glossary
1,4-a-b-glucan chain to a primary hydroxyl group in a similar chain, forming
a branchpoint in a polysaccharide chain.
Breeding Process of utilizing the genetic properties of crops or livestock to
produce new species with potential benefits for farming or to improve existing
varieties.
Brine shrimp bioassay The use of the amount of some substance that is essential
or detrimental to organismal functions besides survival and growth as an
indicator for said phenomena.
Broodstock Mature fish raised or kept for breeding purposes.
Bud In plants, structure from which shoot, leaf or flower develops; incipient
outgrowth, as limb buds in animal embryo, from which limbs develop.
Budding Production of buds; method of asexual reproduction common in sponges,
coelenterates and some other invertebrates, in which new individuals develop as
outgrowths of the parent organism, and may eventually be set free; artificial
vegetative propagation by insertion of a bud within the bark of another plant; cell
from the parent cell; release of certain animal viruses from the host cell by their
envelopment in a piece of plasma membrane which subsequently pinches off
from the cell division by the outgrowth of a new cell.
Byssus Tuft of strong filaments secreted by the byssogenous gland of certain
bivalve molluscs, by which they become attached to substrate; the stalk of
certain fungi.
CAAT box Conserved sequence in the promoter region of some eukaryotic genes
about 70–80 base pairs upstream from the start-point of transcription, and which
is involved in control of initiation of transcription.
Caccolithophorids Unicellular members of the haptophyte algae that are
characterized by a covering of small, ornate calcium carbonate scales.
Cachectin A protein also known as tumour necrosis factor. Its entirely separate
role as cachectin involves inhibiting enzymes of lipid utilization, disturbing lipid
metabolism and causing cachexia (wasting), as in patients with some cancers.
Cadherins One of the main families of cell adhesion molecules. They are cell
surface proteins that can bind an identical cadherin molecule on another cell in a
calcium dependent interaction, causing cells to bind strongly to each other. The
family includes the E-cadherins, N-cadherins, P-cadherins and VE-cadherins.
Callus Plant tissue that has undergone a healing process following a wound or
infection with a pathogen.
Canal raphe A tubelike structure extending longitudinally along the valves of
some pennate diatoms that opens externally via the raphe slit.
426
Glossary