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nucleic acid

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Replication of strands of DNA CE5 nucleic acid, any of a group of organic substances found in the chromosomes of living cells and viruses that play a central role in the storage and replica...

DNA

(Encyclopedia)DNA: see nucleic acid.

bacteriophage

(Encyclopedia)bacteriophage băktērˈēəfājˌ [key], virus that infects bacteria and sometimes destroys them by lysis, or dissolution of the cell. Bacteriophages, or phages, have a head composed of protein, an i...

ribose

(Encyclopedia)ribose rīˈbōs [key], monosaccharide carbohydrate of universal distribution in living tissue, found in ribonucleic acid (RNA; see nucleic acid), free nucleotides, and various coenzymes. Its close re...

antisense

(Encyclopedia)antisense, DNA or RNA manipulated in a laboratory so that its components (nucleotides) form a complementary copy of normal, or “sense,” messenger RNA (mRNA; see nucleic acid). Antisense techniques...

recombination

(Encyclopedia)recombination, process of “shuffling” of genes by which new combinations can be generated. In recombination through sexual reproduction, the offspring's complete set of genes differs from that of ...

virus

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Structure of a tobacco mosaic virus, an RNA-containing virus virus, parasite with a noncellular structure composed mainly of nucleic acid within a protein coat. Most viruses are too small (100...

Kornberg, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Kornberg, Arthur, 1918–2007, American biochemist, b. Brooklyn, grad. College of the City of New York (B.S., 1937) and Univ. of Rochester (M.D., 1941). In 1942 he joined the U.S. Public Health Servic...

DNA fingerprinting

(Encyclopedia)DNA fingerprinting or DNA profiling, any of several similar techniques for analyzing and comparing DNA from separate sources, used especially in law enforcement to identify suspects from hair, blood, ...

Lindahl, Tomas

(Encyclopedia)Lindahl, Tomas, 1938–, Swedish-born British biochemist, grad. Karolinska Institute (Ph.D. 1967, M.D. 1970). Lindahl was a professor at the Univ. of Gothenburg from 1978 to 1982. In 1981 he joined th...