Somatic in Biological Definition

Gene therapy

... In theory it is possible to transform either somatic cells (most cells of the body) or cells of the ... therapy so far in people has been directed at somatic cells, whereas germline engineering in humans ... the chromosomes by genetic recombination . somatic gene therapy can be broadly split in to two ...

Allele frequency

... locus, c) a population of individuals carrying n loci in each of their somatic cells (e.g. two loci in the cells of diploid species, which contain two ... allele (i.e. carry one copy of that allele and one copy of another in each somatic cell) and 4% will be homozygous (carrying two copies of the allele). So ...

Gamete

... from two to one (i.e., produces haploid gametes). The diploid somatic cells of an individual will contain one copy of the chromosome set from ... not exact duplicates of either of the sets of chromosomes carried in the somatic cells of the individual that produced the gametes. They can be "hybrids" ...

Nervous system

... sensory pathways and motor pathways , the latter being divided into the somatic (voluntary) nervous system and the autonomic nervous system . The somatic nervous system is the voluntary part of the nervous system that ...

Allele

... red petals, while another might result in white petals. Some organisms are diploid - that is, they have paired homologous chromosomes in their somatic cells , and thus contain two copies of each gene. An organism in which both copies of the gene are identical - that is, have the same allele - is ...

Antibody

... they are specific for and that elicited their production. The ability to bind a wide variety of foreign antigens arises from events know as somatic recombination. This is when genes are selected (variable (V), diversity (D) and joining (J) for heavy chains, and only V and J for light chains) to ...

Cell growth

... as the human organism, most cells of the body have the haploid amount of DNA, 2N . Using this notation for counting chromosomes we say that human somatic cells have 46 chromosomes (2N = 46) while human sperm and eggs have 23 chromosomes (N = 23). Humans have 23 distinct types of chromosomes, the ...

Chromosome

... (Table 1). Asexually reproducing species have one set of chromosomes, which is the same in all body cells. Sexually reproducing species have somatic cells (body cells), which are diploid [2n] (they have two sets of chromosomes, one from the mother, one from the father) or polyploid [Xn] (more ...

Cloning

... Cloning an organism means to create a new organism with the same genetic information as an existing one. In a modern context, this can involve somatic cell nuclear transfer in which the nucleus is removed from an egg cell and replaced with a nucleus extracted from a cell of the organism to be ...

Cytotoxic T cell

... ) which has on its surface antigen receptors that can bind to fragments of antigens displayed by the Class I MHC molecules of virus infected somatic cells and tumor cells. Once activated by a MHC-antigen complex, T C cells release the protein perforin , which forms pores in the target ...

Ploidy

... ( homologs ) of each chromosome (both sex- and non-sex determining chromosomes), usually one from the mother and one from the father . Most somatic cells (body cells) of higher organisms are diploid. Haplodiploidy A haplodiploid species is one in which one of the sexes has haploid ...

Evolution

... or hypermutation . In multicellular organisms, mutations can be subdivided into germline mutations, which can be passed on to progeny and somatic mutations , which (when accidental) often lead to the malfunction or death of a cell and can cause cancer . Mutations introduce new genetic ...

Gene

... involved in spermatogenesis reside together on the Y chromosome . Many species carry more than one copy of their genome within each of their somatic cells . These organisms are called diploid if they have two copies, or polyploid if they have more than two copies. In such organisms, the ...

Ploidy

... ( homologs ) of each chromosome (both sex- and non-sex determining chromosomes), usually one from the mother and one from the father . Most somatic cells (body cells) of higher organisms are diploid. Haplodiploidy A haplodiploid species is one in which one of the sexes has haploid ...

Meiosis

... asexual reproduction gains emphasis (examples include plants and hydras ). The mechanistic differences between mitosis , which produces somatic cells, and meiosis, is best understood by considering mitosis first. (All jargon used in this article is defined in the article on mitosis .) ...

Mendelian inheritance

... with the specific height the gene "codes" for. For each character, an organism inherits two genes, one from each parent. This means that when somatic cells are produced from two gametes, one allele comes from the mother, one from the father. These alleles may be the same (true-breeding organisms, ....

Paternity testing

... part however, DNA has all but taken over all the other forms of testing. The DNA of an individual is almost exactly the same in each and every somatic cell . Sexual reproduction brings the DNA of both parents together randomly to create a unique combination of genetic material in a new cell, so ...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

... access to the drug do not actively seek it out and do not seek to increase the dose), but suddenly discontinuing their use is known to produce both somatic and psychological withdrawal symptoms, a phenomenon known as "SSRI discontinuation syndrome" (Tamam & Ozpoyraz, 2002). Compared to the ...

Stem cell

... mostly multipotent cells. They are already being used in treatments for over one hundred diseases and conditions. They are more accurately called somatic (Greek σωμα sōma = body) stem cells, because they need not come from adults but can also come from children or umbilical ...

X chromosome

... have one X and one Y chromosome. Early in embryonic development in females, one of the two X chromosomes is randomly and permanently inactivated in somatic cells (cells other than egg and sperm cells). This phenomenon is called X-inactivation or Lyonization. X-inactivation ensures that females, like ...