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genetic profile | Biology | 1 | A specific DNA pattern obtained by a scientific process, which reflects the unique DNA sequence found in a living organism. |
genetically modified | Biology | 1 | An organism (plant, animal, bacterium or virus) whose genome has been altered by human intervention. Alterations can include the addition or deletion of DNA sequences and the introduction of DNA sequence changes. |
genetically modified organism | Biology | 1 | A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism (plant, animal, bacteria or virus) that has had its genetic material altered. This term is typically used to describe an organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material achieved through modern biotechnological approaches. |
genome sequencing | Biology | 1 | Identifying the sequence of bases in the genome of an organism. |
genomic selection | Biology | 1 | The simultaneous use of thousands of DNA markers to estimate the breeding value of an individual. |
genus | Biology | 1 | (Plural genera) A division used in the Linnean system of classification or taxonomy. A group of closely related species. |
germ cell | Biology | 1 | Cells giving rise to the gametes (eggs and sperm in animals, ovules and pollen in plants). |
germicide | Biology | 1 | An agent that kills pathogenic microorganisms (germs). |
germination | Biology | 1 | The first stage of plant growth from a seed to a seedling. When conditions are right, a seed takes in water and starts to grow a root, stem and leaves. |
germplasm | Biology | 1 | A set of genetic resources for an organism. Germplasm can either come from seeds or living tissue from which new plants can be grown. |
giardia | Biology | 1 | An intestinal infection caused by a microscopic flagellated protozoan parasite. |
gill | Biology | 1 | A respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water and excretes carbon dioxide. |
glass eels | Biology | 1 | Transparent juvenile eels. Eel larvae – leptocephali – change into glass eels. |
gonad | Biology | 1 | Sexual organ (testes and ovaries in animals). |
growth medium | Biology | 1 | The nutrient-rich environment in which bacteria, yeasts, algae, or specific cell or tissue types are grown in a laboratory environment. |
gully system | Biology | 1 | A small valley originally formed by running water. Many of these small valleys connect to form a gully system, which often drains into a stream, river or other water source. Urban gully systems may serve as wildlife corridors. |
gymnosperm | Biology | 1 | A vascular plant that bears seeds not enclosed in any specialised chambers (for example, pine, ginko). |
gynomonoecious | Biology | 1 | Relating to plants, having both female and hermaphrodite (having both stamens and carpels in the same flower) flowers on the same plant. |
haematopoietic | Biology | 1 | A type of stem cell found in the bone marrow, which can differentiate into blood cells, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. |
haemoglobin | Biology | 1 | The oxygen-carrying substance in red blood cells. |
hair cell | Biology | 1 | A sensory receptor within the ear. A cell structure that contains small extensions similar in appearance to fine hairs. |
haploid | Biology | 1 | Having one copy of each chromosome, or having a single set of chromosomes. Gametes (egg and sperm cells) are haploid. |
hare | Biology | 1 | A long-eared mammal that resembles a rabbit. |
hemiparasite | Biology | 1 | A plant, such as mistletoe, that obtains water and nutrients from its host but makes some of its own food by photosynthesis. Unlike a parasite, a hemiparasite does not normally kill its host. |
herbivores | Biology | 1 | An animal that only eats plants, compared to carnivores, which only eat meat, or omnivores, which eat plants and meat. |
heritability | Biology | 1 | A measure of the degree to which variation in the characteristics of a phenotype is due to genetic causes. |
heterotroph | Biology | 1 | An animal that is unable to make its own food and relies on consuming nutrients from other organisms. |
heterozygous | Biology | 1 | When alleles at the same locus (chromosome position) are different. |
holotype | Biology | 1 | The single specimen chosen as the type of a new species or subspecies in the original description. The description usually occurs in a scientific publication. Also known as a type specimen. |
homozygous | Biology | 1 | When alleles at the same locus (chromosome position) are the same. |
horizontal gene transfer | Biology | 1 | The transfer of genetic information between organisms of different species. |
host cell | Biology | 1 | A living cell in which a virus reproduces. |
human genome project | Biology | 1 | An international project to identify all the genes in human DNA and to determine the sequence of the 3 billion nucleotides that make up human DNA. |
hybrid | Biology | 1 | The progeny of cross-breeding 2 pure-breeding lines. |
hyphae | Biology | 1 | Small threads that are part of a fungus. These thin strands stretch out to gather food and nutrients to allow the fungus to grow. |
icbn | Biology | 1 | International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Approves new names and classifications for plant species. |
icnb | Biology | 1 | International Code for the Nomenclature of Bacteria. Approves new names and classifications for bacteria species. |
ictv | Biology | 1 | International Code for the Taxonomy of Viruses. Approves new names and classifications for virus species. |
iczn | Biology | 1 | International Code for Zoological Nomenclature. Approves new names and classifications for animal species. |
ileum | Biology | 1 | The last part of the small intestine (about 3 m long in humans). It links to the large intestine. |
immunocontraceptive | Biology | 1 | A molecule that partially or completely suppresses an organism’s ability to produce offspring by stimulating an immune response against components of it's reproductive system. |
in vitro | Biology | 1 | Occurring in a laboratory environment, for example, in a test tube. This is a Latin term meaning ‘in glass’. |
in vivo | Biology | 1 | Experimental investigations carried out in a complete living organism. These occur in the body. This is a Latin term. |
inbreeding | Biology | 1 | The production of offspring (babies) by closely related individuals. |
incubate | Biology | 1 | To hatch eggs by sitting on them or by the use of artificial heat. To maintain a favourable temperature and/or conditions to promote development. |
indicator species | Biology | 1 | Particular species or organisms whose presence or absence in an environment can provide an indication of the status of the environment. For example, presence of significant numbers of stonefly larvae in New Zealand waterways is an indication that the water is clean and the waterway healthy. |
indusium | Biology | 1 | A membrane enclosing and protecting the developing spores, especially that covering the sori of a fern. |
infertile egg | Biology | 1 | Animal eggs that haven’t been fertilised by a male and that don’t contain an embryo so they won’t ever hatch. |
infests | Biology | 1 | When large numbers of an organism, usually a parasite, live on or in a host. |
inoculate | Biology | 1 | Infect one living organism with a small sample of another living organism or part of a living organism. |
introns | Biology | 1 | Parts of the DNA sequence within a gene that do not code for protein. |
ionising radiation | Biology | 1 | Radiation that has enough energy to shift electrons out of atoms and so produce ions. This can cause damage to biological organisms like humans and can instigate DNA to mutate. |
junk dna | Biology | 1 | An older term for the regions of DNA on the genome that lie between genes. Junk DNA was once thought to have little or no function. Now, it is thought that these regions may have significant roles in the control of gene expression. |
keratin | Biology | 1 | A family of fibrous structural proteins. It is a key component of hair and nails. It also forms into tough, insoluble and unmineralised tissues found in reptiles, birds, amphibians and mammals. |
keystone species | Biology | 1 | A species that has a greater impact on the community of organisms in an ecosystem than you would expect in relation to its abundance. The removal of a keystone species often has a dramatic effect on the ecosystem. |
kina | Biology | 1 | New Zealand endemic sea urchin. |
kiore | Biology | 1 | Pacific ratrattus exulans. Also known as Polynesian rat. A species of rat introduced to Aotearoa New Zealand by Polynesian settlers. |
krill | Biology | 1 | Small marine crustaceans that are found in all the world's oceans. |
legume | Biology | 1 | A plant having fruits that are developed from a simple superior ovary and usually dehiscing into two valves. Legumes bear nodules on the roots, which contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Examples are peas, beans and clovers. |
lichen | Biology | 1 | A mutualistic relationship between a fungus and an alga. The two species are so intertwined that they appear to be one organism. |
ligase | Biology | 1 | An enzyme that joins DNA fragments together. |
ligation | Biology | 1 | The joining together of DNA fragments using ligases. |
lignin | Biology | 1 | A molecule produced by plants that provides structure for the cell wall. It supports vascular plant stems and is the substance that binds wood fibres together, making them rigid and strong. |
linnean classification system | Biology | 1 | Developed by Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus in the 1700s, this system groups organisms into kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families, genera and species depending on their relationship to other organisms. |
lotic | Biology | 1 | Pertains to or lives in flowing waters. Generally refers to flowing water ecosystems and comes from the Latin word ‘lotus’ meaning ‘washed’. River ecosystems are prime examples ofloticecosystems. |
luciferase | Biology | 1 | A generic name for an enzyme that produces light from an organism. Luciferases are found in glow-worms, fireflies, and in some jellyfish and deep-sea fish. |
lymph node | Biology | 1 | A group of small organs found throughout the body that form part of the lymphatic and immune systems. They filter the lymph to remove bacteria and toxins. |
lymphatic system | Biology | 1 | Part of the immune system that protects the body against 'invaders', like bacteria and parasites. It is a network of small lymph nodes connected by lymph vessels. |
macroinvertebrate | Biology | 1 | An invertebrate (animal without a backbone) that can be seen with the naked eye (it is macroscopic). |
macrophage cells | Biology | 1 | The cells of the immune system whose main function is to rid the body of dead cells and other debris. |
magnetoreception | Biology | 1 | The ability exhibited by certain organisms to perceive and respond to magnetic fields. |
mammal | Biology | 1 | A warm-blooded animal, such as a human being, dog or whale, the female of which produces milk from mammary glands to feed her young/newborn offspring. |
mammary gland | Biology | 1 | A milk-secreting organ of mammals. |
mark-recapture | Biology | 1 | This method commonly used in ecology to estimate an animal’s population size where it is impractical to count all individuals. A portion of the population is captured, marked and released. Later, another portion will be captured and the number of marked individuals within the sample counted. |
marker-assisted selection | Biology | 1 | The use of DNA markers in a breeding programme to predict whether an individual plant or animal carries a particular allele. |
mast event | Biology | 1 | The production of larger than usual amounts of seeds, which means mice and rat numbers increase rapidly and in turn stoat numbers increase because they feed on the mice and rats. |
megalopae | Biology | 1 | Late stage in the life cycle of a crab. Characterised by the use of abdominal appendages to swim. |
melanocytes | Biology | 1 | Cells in the epidermis of the skin and elsewhere that produce melanin. |
meristem | Biology | 1 | Zone of active mitosis in a plant where plant growth is occurring. |
mesophilic | Biology | 1 | (Of bacteria.) Growing best at moderate temperatures between 25 °C and 40 °C. |
mesozoic | Biology | 1 | The geological era from 250 to 65 million years ago made up of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Reptiles, mammals, birds and flowering plants developed during this era. |
mrna | Biology | 1 | Single stranded RNA made during transcription and used as the template for protein synthesis in translation. Its sequence is complementary to the DNA sequence from which it is transcribed. |
metabolic pathway | Biology | 1 | A seriesof reactions in a cell, where the product from one reaction is used as the reactant for the next reaction, and so on. |
metabolism | Biology | 1 | Chemical processes that occur in living organisms, for example, producing energy and building the compounds that cells need to survive and divide. |
metamorphosis | Biology | 1 | A profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism. |
methanotrophic archaea | Biology | 1 | A category of microorganism similar to bacteria that uses methane gas as its energy source. |
microarray | Biology | 1 | A technique for determining which genes are actively being used in a cell by checking which mRNA molecules are present. |
microbe | Biology | 1 | Another name for microorganism. An organism too tiny to see without a microscope, such as bacteria and fungi. |
microbial | Biology | 1 | Anything of, or related to microorganisms. |
microbial activity or processes | Biology | 1 | The metabolic activities of microorganisms resulting in chemical or physical changes. |
microbial count | Biology | 1 | The number of microorganisms which grow on an agar plate. The number is used to indicate whether a substance is contaminated. |
microbiologist | Biology | 1 | A scientist who studies microorganisms, like protozoans, algae, moulds, bacteria and viruses. They are concerned with the structure, function and classification of these organisms and with ways of controlling and using their activities. |
microbiome | Biology | 1 | The collective microorganisms and their genes found in a particular environment or organism. |
microbiota | Biology | 1 | A group or colony of microorganisms present in a specific, localised location. |
microcosm | Biology | 1 | In biology, a community represented on a small scale. An experimental system that simulates real-life conditions as closely as possible while allowing the manipulation of environmental factors. |
microorganism | Biology | 1 | A living organism which is too small to be seen with the naked eye and can only be observed using a microscope. Includes bacteria and most protists. |
microtubules | Biology | 1 | Narrow cylinders of protein that form a supporting scaffold inside cells. |
mitochondria | Biology | 1 | Organelles where energy is generated. Found in all eukaryotic cells. They contain a small amount of genetic material, allowing them to make some of their own proteins. |
model bacterium | Biology | 1 | A bacterium that has been widely studied, usually because it is easy to breed and maintain in a laboratory setting. |
model organism | Biology | 1 | A non-human species used by scientists to better understand particular biological research questions. |
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