footprintingn.
/ˈfʊtprɪntɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈfʊtˌprɪn(t)ɪŋ/ 1. The taking and recording of the footprints of an infant, as a means of identification. Cf. fingerprinting n. 1.
ΚΠ
1920 Amer. Mag. 89 268/2 It may be a shock to countless parents to know that there is danger of babies being mixed up in maternity hospitals, and that the use of finger-printing or of ‘foot-printing’ is earnestly recommended to prevent this possibility.
1972 Jrnl. Criminal Law 63 441/2 The dusting-tape method might be applicable to the foot printing of newborn infants.
2007 J. T. Fish et al. Crime Scene Investig. iv. 78 Because DNA has become such a widely accepted routine practice, infant footprinting may soon disappear.
2. Molecular Biology. More fully DNA footprinting, DNase footprinting, genomic footprinting. Any of various techniques used to determine the sites at which proteins bind to DNA or RNA, employed esp. in the study of gene expression and regulation. Frequently attributive. Cf. footprint n. 7.
ΚΠ
1978 D. Galas & A. Schmitz in Nucleic Acids Res. 5 3157 (title) DNAase footprinting: a simple method for the detection of protein-DNA binding specificity.
1987 Science 5 June 1241/2 Genomic footprinting experiments with the putative glucocorticoid response element of the tyrosine transaminase gene reveal only minor differences in the presence and absence of hormone.
1992 Sci. News 23 May 340/1 Stillman used a technique called DNA ‘footprinting’ to track down the new proteins.
2005 H. I. Swanson et al. in L. H. Lash Drug Metabolism & Transport ii. 29 Footprinting analysis uses a DNA fragment that is radiolabeled at one end and is allowed to equilibrate with the DNA binding proteins (typically present in a nuclear extract).
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1920