Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The capacity of the bacterium to take up DNA from its surroundings. The ability to perform certain skills at appropriate levels.  

Living on or within another organism, and deriving benefit without injuring or benefiting the other individual. An organism living on or within another, but not causing injury to the host. This adjective is used to describe a situation in which several people eat together. The word comes from two Latin words, the preposition cum, meaning…

A cut-and-paste process that churns out thousands of potentially valuable compounds at once.  

Association of 3 drugs to treat AIDS (AZT + DDC or DDI + protease inhibitor).  

Glycoproteins found in a subfraction of normal mammalian plasma and urine. They stimulate the proliferation of bone marrow cells in agar cultures and the formation of colonies of granulocytes and/or macrophages. The factors include interleukin-3 (IL-3), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Specific glycoprotein growth factors required for…

Of the nature of a colloid.  

A substance, microorganism or environmental factor that activates or enhances the action of another entity such as a disease-causing agent. A nonprotein component required by some enzymes for activity. The cofactor may be a metal ion or an organic molecule called a coenzyme. The term “cofactor” is a general term. Cofactors are generally heat stable.…

An organic nonprotein molecule, frequently a phosphorylated derivative of a water-soluble vitamin, that binds with the protein molecule (apoenzyme) to form the active enzyme (holoenzyme). A nonprotein compound that functions to activate an enzyme. Organic compounds required for the activity of some enzymes; most are derived from vitamins. A nonprotein substance derived from, a vitamin…

A set of three nucleotides in a protein coding sequence that specifies individual amino acids or a termination signal (codon, terminator). Most codons are universal, but some organisms do not produce the transfer RNAs (RNA, transfer) complementary to all codons. These codons are referred to as unassigned codons (codons, nonsense). Triplet sequence of bases adenine,…

The culturing of normal cells or tissues with infected or latently infected cells or tissues of the same kind (From Dorland, 28th ed, entry for cocultivation). It also includes culturing of normal cells or tissues with other normal cells or tissues.