GLOSSARY

Abscisic acid (ABA) pathway: The role of abscisic acid (ABA) in the signal transduction pathway associated with NaCl-induced up-regulation of antioxidant enzyme activity was examined in a NaCl-tolerant cotton callus cell line treated with NaCl, ABA, paraquat, or H2O2 in the presence and absence or fluridone, an inhibitor of terpene, and therefore, ABA synthesis. Treatment with NaCl resulted in a rapid increase (within 30 minutes) in the ABA levels of the callus tissue, and the NaCl, ABA, and paraquat treatments induced rapid increases in the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and glutathione reductase.
Adenine: One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA or RNA; pairs with thymine in DNA or uracil in RNA.
Affected relative pair: An affected relative pair consists of two organisms related genetically that are both affected by the same trait. For example, two cousins who both have blue eyes are an affected relative pair since they are both affected by the allele coding for blue eyes.
Allele: One of multiple alternative forms of a single gene, each of which is a viable DNA sequence occupying a given position, or locus on a chromosome. For example, in humans, one allele of the eye-color gene produces blue eyes and another allele of the eye-color gene produces brown eyes.
Antibacterial, antibacterial drug, bactericide: Any drug that destroys bacteria or inhibits their growth.
Antibiotic: An antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills bacteria or inhibits their growth.
Antifungal: Any agent that destroys or prevents the growth of fungi.
Antimicrobial: An agent (as heat or radiation or a chemical) that destroys microorganisms that might carry disease.
Antineoplastic: Antineoplastic drug, cancer drug :any of several drugs that control or kill neoplastic cells; used in chemotherapy to kill cancer cells; all have unpleasant side effects that may include nausea and vomiting and hair loss and suppression of bone marrow function.
Antiparasitic: Antiparasitics are a class of medications which are indicated for the treatment of parasitic diseases such as nematodes, cestodes, trematodes, infectious protozoa, and amoebas.
Antiviral drug: Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used specifically for treating viral infections.
Base pair: A pair of nucleotide bases on complementary DNA or RNA strands organized in a double helix.
Bioassay: Bioassay is a shorthand commonly used term for biological assay and is a type of scientific experiment. Bioassays are essential in the development of new drugs, and monitoring pollutants in the environment.
Biosynthesis: A process where chemical compounds are made in the body from simpler compounds or smaller molecules, an important part of metabolism.
Boiling point: The boiling point is the temperature at which the material changes from a liquid to a gas.
Chemical formula: A chemical formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, and how the relationship between those atoms changes in chemical reactions.
Chemical name: The chemical name is a proper scientific name for an ingredient of a product. For example, the chemical name of the herbicide 2,4-D is 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The chemical name can be used to obtain additional information.
Chromosome: A molecular "package" for carrying DNA in cells, organized as two double-helical DNA molecules that encode many genes. Some simple organisms have only one chromosome made of circular DNA, while most eukaryotes have multiple chromosomes made of linear DNA.
Cofactor: A cofactor is a non-protein chemical compound that is bound (either tightly or loosely) to a protein and is required for the protein's biological activity.
Compound: Consisting of two or more substances, ingredients, elements, or parts.
Cytosine: One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA or RNA; pairs with guanine.
Cystine: One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA or RNA; pairs containing sulphur atom.
Database: Collection of data stored on a computer storage medium in a common pool for access.
Density: The density of a material is its weight for a given volume. Density is usually given in units of grams per millilitre (g/mL) or grams per cubic centimetre (g/cc).
DNA replication: DNA replication, the basis for biological inheritance, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is "semiconservative" in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand.
DNA: A polymeric molecule made of deoxyribonucleotides, hence then name deoxyribonucleic acid. Most often has the form of a "double helix", which consists of two paired DNA molecules and resembles a ladder that has been twisted. The "rungs" of the ladder are made of base pairs, or nucleotides with complementary hydrogen bonding patterns.
Drug discovery: In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which drugs are discovered and/or designed.
Drug: A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function.
Empirical formula: The empirical formula of a chemical is a simple expression of the relative number of each type of atom or ratio of the elements in the compound
Feedback: Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence the same event/phenomenon in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself.
Flash point: The flash point is the lowest temperature at which a liquid or solid gives off enough vapour to form a flammable air-vapour mixture near its surface. The lower the flash point, the greater the fire hazard.
Fungicides: Fungicides are chemical compound s or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores.
Gene expression: The process in which the information encoded in a gene is converted into a form useful for the cell. The first step is transcription, which produces a messenger RNA molecule complementary to the DNA molecule on which a gene is encoded. For protein-coding genes, the second step is translation, in which the messenger RNA is read by the ribosome to produce a protein.
Gene pool: The sum of all the alleles shared by members of a single population.
Gene synthesis: Gene synthesis is the process of synthesizing an artificially designed gene into a physical DNA sequence.
Gene: A set of segments of nucleic acid that contains the information necessary to produce a functional RNA product in a controlled manner. In living organisms, it is a unit of heredity and typically encoded in DNA. A particular gene can have multiple different forms, or alleles, which are defined by different sequences of DNA.
Genetics: The field of biology that studies genes and their inheritance.
Genome: The entire complement of genetic material in the chromosome set of an organism, virus or organelle.
Genotype: The complement of alleles present in a particular individual's genome that give rise to the individual's phenotype.
Guanine: One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA or RNA; pairs with cytosine.
Hormones: Hormones are chemicals released by cells that affect cells in other parts of the body. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism.
Inflammation: Inflammation (Latin, inflamatio, to set on fire) is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants.
Ingestion: Ingestion means taking a material into the body by mouth (swallowing).
Inhibitors: Inhibitors are molecules that bind to enzymes and decrease their activity.
Insecticides: A chemical used to kill insects.
Isolation: The act of being alone; separation.
Ligand: An atom, ion, or molecule (see also: functional group) that binds to a central metal to produce a coordination complex.
Locus: A location on a chromosome where a particular gene resides.
Macroecology: The study of large scale ecological phenomena.
Marine ecology: Where the dominant environmental milieu is water.
Mark and Recapture: Used to estimate populations and find survival rates, movement and growth.
Medication: A medication or medicine is a drug taken to cure and/or ameliorate any symptoms of an illness or medical condition, or may be used as preventive medicine that has future benefits but does not treat any existing or pre-existing diseases or symptoms.
Melting point: The melting point is the temperature at which a solid material becomes a liquid.
Metabolic theory of ecology: Theory that explains the relationship between an organism's body mass and metabolic rate
Metabolism: Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.
Mevalonate pathway: The mevalonate pathway or HMG-CoA reductase pathway or mevalonate-dependent (MAD) route or isoprenoid pathway, is an important cellular metabolic pathway present in all higher eukaryotes and many bacteria.
Microbial ecology: The ecology of micro-organisms.
Micro-climate: An area influenced by either natural or manmade features that change the climatic conditions from the normal regional climate.
Microecology: The study of small scale ecological phenomena.
Migration: the movement of organisms from one place to another.
Mixture: A composition of two or more substances that are not chemically combined with each other and are capable of being separated.
mm Hg: The abbreviation mm Hg stands for millimeters (mm) of mercury (Hg). It is a common unit of measurement for the pressure exerted by gases such as air. Normal atmospheric pressure is 760 mm Hg.
Molecular ecology: A field of evolutionary biology concerned with applying molecular population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, and genomics to traditional ecological questions. Essentially the same as ecological genetics
Molecular formula: A molecular formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, and how the relationship between those atoms changes in chemical reactions.
Molecules: A molecule can be most properly defined as a group of atoms joined in a specific structure. Molecular weight: The molecular weight of a chemical is a number showing how heavy one molecule (or unit) of the chemical is compared to the lightest element, hydrogen, which has a weight of 1. The molecular weight has various technical uses, such as calculating conversions from parts per million (ppm) to milligrams per cubic metre (mg/m3) in air.
Mutation: Is a change in the base pair sequence of DNA or RNA.
Mutualism: A biological interaction between individuals of two different species, where each individual derives a fitness benefit. It includes relationships which are mutualistic, parasitic or commensal.
Natural product: A natural product is a chemical compound or substance produced by a living organism - found in nature that usually has a pharmacological or biological activity for use in pharmaceutical drug discovery and drug design. A natural product can be considered as such even if it can be prepared by total synthesis.
Natural resources: Natural resources (economically referred to as land or raw materials) occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource's is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity existent in various ecosystems.
Neurotoxins: Neurotoxins are agents that can cause toxic effects on the nervous system.
Neurotransmission: Is an electrical movement within synapses caused by a propagation of nerve impulses.
Nucleotide: One of the four monomers that make up a DNA molecule.
Oligonucleotide synthesis: Oligonucleotide synthesis is the chemical synthesis of relatively short fragments of nucleic acids with defined chemical structure (sequence).
pest: An injurious or unwanted animal or plant.
pH: The pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a material when dissolved in water.
Phenotype: The observable physical or behavioral traits of an organism, largely determined by the organism's genotype.
Polymer: A polymer is a natural or man-made material formed by combining units, called monomers, into long chains.
Polymerase chain reaction: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique to amplify a single or few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating millions or more copies of a particular DNA sequence.
Protein: A linear polymeric molecule made of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Proteins carry out the majority of chemical reactions that occur inside the cell.
Purification: Purification is the process of rendering something pure, i.e. clean of foreign elements and/or pollution.
Receptor: A receptor is a protein molecule, embedded in either the plasma membrane or cytoplasm of a cell, to which a mobile signaling (or "signal") molecule may attach.
Resource extraction: Refer to the practice of locating, acquiring and selling any resource, but typically a natural resource.
Salvage pathway: A salvage pathway is a pathway in which nucleotides (purine and pyrimidine) are synthesized from intermediates in the degradative pathway for nucleotides.
Semisynthesis: Type of chemical synthesis that uses compounds isolated from natural sources (e.g. plant material or bacterial or cell cultures) as starting materials. These natural biomolecules are usually large and complex molecules.
Shikimic acid pathway: Metabolic pathway in plants and microorganisms, by which the aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan) are formed from phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose 4 phosphate via shikimic acid. The aromatic amino acids in turn serve as precursors for the formation of lignin and other phenolic compounds in plants. Inhibitors of this pathway are used as herbicides.
Solubility: Solubility is the ability of a material to dissolve in water or another liquid. Solubility may be expressed as a ratio or may be described using words such as insoluble, very soluble or miscible.
Source: A facility where something is available .
Synonyms: Synonyms are alternative names for the same chemical. For example, methanol and methyl hydrate are synonyms for methyl alcohol. Synonyms may help in locating additional information on a chemical.
Systematic name: The existence of non-standard common names in different languages for entities studied by the scientific communities and the overloading of a single name to describe different entities from a same field of study makes scientific communication harder and causes unproductive name disputes. As a response, a number of systems of standardized and systematic names have been created.
Thymine: One of the four nucleotide bases in DNA; pairs with adenine. In RNA, thymine is replaced with uracil.
Toxic, Toxicity: Toxic means able to cause harmful health effects. Toxicity is the ability of a substance to cause harmful health effects.
Trade name: A trade name is the name under which a product is commercially known.
Transcription: The first step in gene expression, in which a messenger RNA molecule complementary to particular gene encoded in DNA is synthesized by enzymes called RNA polymerases. To produce a functional protein, transcription is followed by translation.
Translation: The second step in gene expression, in which a messenger RNA molecule is read by the ribosome to produce a functional protein. Translation is always preceded by transcription.
Uracil: One of the four nucleotide bases in RNA; pairs with adenine. In DNA, uracil is replaced with thymine.
Vaccine: A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains a small amount of an agent that resembles a microorganism.
Vapour density: Vapour density is the weight per unit volume of a pure gas or vapour.
Vapour pressure: Vapour pressure is a measure of the tendency of a material to form a vapour. The higher the vapour pressure, the higher the potential vapour concentration.
Vapour: A vapour is the gaseous form of a material which is normally solid or liquid at room temperature and pressure.
Vertebrate: Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with backbones or spinal columns.