merozoiten.
/ˌmɛrə(ʊ)ˈzəʊʌɪt/, U.S. /ˌmɛrəˈzoʊˌaɪt/ Biology and Medicine.
In many sporozoans: any of the individuals produced by schizogony (merogony) in the asexual phase of the life cycle, which infect further host cells and in turn form meronts or gamonts.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > protozoa > class Sporozoa > [noun] > spore produced by fission
merozoite1900
macromerozoite1903
1900 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 336 In the author's nomenclature this process of asexual multiplication is known as schizogony, the mother-cells are schizonts, and the daughter-cells merozoites.
1910 G. N. Calkins Protozoöl. (U.K. ed.) 99 Merozoite is used for the asexually produced germs.
1940 L. H. Hyman Invertebr. I. iii. 144 The growing vegetative parasite is called a trophozoite. When this..undergoes multiple fission directly into agametes, it is called a schizont or agamont, the multiple fission is termed schizogony or agamogony, and the agametes are known as merozoites.
1967 J. H. Wilmoth Biol. Invertebr. ii. 40/2 Among the Coccidia, multiple division occurs during both asexual and sexual phases... Infective sporozoites invade epithelial cells of the host. Schizogony produces many merozoites which are freed to invade new cells.
1993 N.Y. Times 23 Mar. c3/5 Dr. Patarroyo created a synthetic peptide vaccine by forging three merozoite peptides..and one sporozoite peptide to a carrier molecule.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1900