gene
/dʒiːn
/noun Biology
1(In informal use) a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring: playing tennis is in my genes...
- Karma helps to imprint a code on the soul, similar to the genetic code on the genes.
- Nowadays, the phrase is extended to mean the ability to pass on one's genes to one's offspring.
- The condition is rare and is caused by the inheritance of an abnormal gene from an affected parent.
1.1(In technical use) a distinct sequence of nucleotides forming part of a chromosome, the order of which determines the order of monomers in a polypeptide or nucleic acid molecule which a cell (or virus) may synthesize.Proteins encoded by the abnormal genes are then identified and their interactions studied by pathway analyses and probable functions deduced....
- The accessory gland protein-coding genes were isolated in such a way that favors overrepresentation of highly expressed genes.
- Each of these species contains opsin genes which are not expressed in the adult retina.
Origin
Early 20th century: from German Gen, from Pangen, a supposed ultimate unit of heredity (from Greek pan- 'all' + genos 'race, kind, offspring').
The word gene is from German Gen, from Pangen (from Greek pan- ‘all’ and genos ‘race, kind, offspring’), a supposed ultimate unit of heredity. Genetic (mid 19th century) started out meaning ‘arising from a common origin’: this is from genesis (Old English) ‘creation’, on the pattern of pairs such as antithesis and antithetic.