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mitosis

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mitosis in a body cell of an animal mitosis mītōˈsĭs, mĭ– [key], process of nuclear division in a living cell by which the carriers of hereditary information, or the chromosomes, are ex...

bacteria

(Encyclopedia)bacteria [pl. of bacterium], microscopic unicellular prokaryotic organisms characterized by the lack of a membrane-bound nucleus and membrane-bound organelles. Once considered a part of the plant king...

nitrogen cycle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nitrogen cycle nitrogen cycle, the continuous flow of nitrogen through the biosphere by the processes of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification. Nitrogen...

mineral, dietary

(Encyclopedia)mineral, dietary, any of a group of inorganic elements that are essential to humans and animals for normal body function. In nutrition, minerals are those elements for which the body's requirement is ...

mutation

(Encyclopedia)mutation, in biology, a sudden, random change in a gene, or unit of hereditary material, that can alter an inheritable characteristic. Most mutations are not beneficial, since any change in the delica...

classification

(Encyclopedia)CE5 classification, in biology, the systematic categorization of organisms into a coherent scheme. The original purpose of biological classification, or systematics, was to organize the vast number...

genetics

(Encyclopedia)genetics, scientific study of the mechanism of heredity. While Gregor Mendel first presented his findings on the statistical laws governing the transmission of certain traits from generation to genera...

cell, in biology

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Animal cell cell, in biology, the unit of structure and function of which all plants and animals are composed. The cell is the smallest unit in the living organism that is capable of integrati...

reproduction

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Examples of asexual reproduction reproduction, capacity of all living systems to give rise to new systems similar to themselves. The term reproduction may refer to this power of self-duplicati...

carbon

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The three solid forms of pure carbon: In the diamond crystal each carbon atom is surrounded symmetrically by four other carbons (at each of the four corners of a tetrahedron). In the graphite c...

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