| Term | Definition |
|---|
| volume | a measurement of the amount of space something occupies |
| mass | amount of matter (atoms and molecules) an object contains |
| liter | a unit of measurement for volume, approx. equal to a quart |
| milliliter | a unit measure for volume; one one-thousandth of a liter (0.001 L) |
| microliter | anunit measure for volume; equivalent to one-thousandth of a milliliter |
| graduated cylinder | a plastic or glass tube with marks (or graduations) equally spaced to show volumes; measurements are made at the bottom of the meniscus, the lowest part of the concave surface of the liquid in the cylinder |
| pipet | an instrument usually used to measure volumes between 0.1 mL and 50 mL |
| micropipet | an instrument used to measure very tiny volumes, usually less than a milliliter |
| unit of measurement | the form in which something is measured |
| conversion factor | a number (a fraction) wher the numerator and denominator are equal to the same amountl commonly used to convert from one unit to another |
| P-100 | a micropipet that is used to pipet volumes from 10-100 uL |
| P-200 | a micropipet that is used to pipet volumes from 20-200 uL |
| P-10 | a micropipet that is used to pipet volumes from 1-10 uL |
| P-20 | a micropipet that is used to pipet volumes from 2-20uL |
| P-1000 | a micropipet that is used to pipet volumes from 100-1000 uL |
| multichannel pipet | a type of pipet that holds 4-16 tips from one plunger; allows several samples to be measured at the same time |
| solution | a mixture of two or more substances where one (solute) completely dissolves in the other (solvent) |
| aqueous | describing a solution in which the solvent is water |
| solute | the substance in a solution that is being dissolved |
| balance | an instrument that measures mass |
| weight | the force exerted on something by gravity; at sea level, it is consideered equal to the mass of an object |
| molarity | a measure of concentration that represents the number of moles of a solute in a liter of solution |
| gram | the standard unit of mass |
| solvent | the substance that dissolves the solute |
| percentage | a proportion of something out of 100 parts, expressed as a whole number |
| mole | equivalent to the molecular weight of a given substance, reported as grams |
| molecular weight | the sum of all the atomic weights of the atoms in a given molecule |
| amu | abbreviation for atomic mass unit; the mass of a single hydrogen atom |
| mass spectrometer | an instrument that is used to determine the molecular weight of a compound |
| dilution | the process in which solvent is added to make a solution less concentrated |
| stock solution | a concentrated form of a reagent that is often diluted to form a "working solution" |
| buffer | a solution that acts to resist a change in pH when the hydrogen ion concentration is changed |
| TRIS | a complex organic molecule used to maintain the pH of a solution |
| TE buffer | a buffer used for storing DNA; contains TRIS and EDTA |
| TAE buffer | a buffer that is often used for running DNA samples on agarose gels in horizontal gel boxes; contains TRIS, EDTA, and acetic acid |
| chromatin | nuclear DNA and proteins |
| gene | a section of DNA on a chromosome that contains the genetic code of a protein |
| nitrogenous base | an important component of nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), composed of one or two nitrogen-containing rings; forms the critical hydrogen bonds between opposing strands of a double helix |
| base pair | two nitrogenous bases that are connected by a hydrogen bond; for example, an adenosine bonded to a thymine or a guanine bonded to a cytosine |
| phosphodiester bond | a bond that is responsible for the polymerization of nucleic acids by linking sugars and phosphates of adjacent nucleotides |
| hydrogen bond | a type of weak bond that involves the "sandwiching" of a hydrogen atom between two fluorine, nitrogen, or oxygen atoms; especially important in the structure of nucleic acids and proteins |
| pyrimidine | a nitrogenous base composed of a single carbon ring; a component of DNA nucleotides |
| purine | a nitrogenous base composed of a double carbon ring; a component of DNA nucleotides |
| antiparallel | a reference to the observation that strands on DNA double helix have their nucleotides oriented in the opposite direction to one another |
| semiconservative replication | a form of replication in which eac original strand of DNA acts as a template, or model, for building a new side; in this model one of each new copy goes into a newly forming daughter cell during cell division |
| medium | a suspension or gel that provides the nutrients and the environment needed for cells to survive; plural is media |
| lysis | the breakdown or rupture of cells |
| R plasmid | a type of plasmid that contains a gene for antibiotic resistance |
| transformed | refers to those cells that have taken up foreign DNA and started expressing the genes on the newly acquired DNA |
| vector | a piece of DNA that carries one or more genes into a cell, usually circular as in plasmid vectors |
| operon | a section of prokaryotic DNA consisting of one or more genes and their controlling elements |
| RNA polymerase | an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of complementary RNA strands from a given DNA strand |
| promoter | the region at the beginning of a gene where RNA polymerase binds; the promoter "promotes" the recruitment of RNA polymerase and other factors required for transcription |
| operator | a region on the operon that can either turn on or off expression of a set of genes depending on the binding of a regulatory molecule |
| beta-galactosidase | an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of lactose into monosaccharides |
| broth | liquid media used for growing cells |
| agar | solid media used for growing bacteria, fungi, plant, or other cells |
| media preparation | the process of combining and sterilizing ingredients of a particular medium |
| autoclave | an instrument that creates high temperature and high pressure to sterilize equipment and media |
| enhancer | a section of DNA that increases the expression of a gene |
| intron | the region on a gene that is transcribed into an mRNA molecule but not expressed into a protein |
| exon | the region of a gene that directly codes for a protein; it is the region of the gene that is expressed |
| transcription factors | molecules that work to either turn on or off the transcription eukaryotic genes |
| histones | nuclear proteins that bind to chromosomal DNA and condense it into highly packed coils |
| nonpathogenic | not known to cause disease |
| bacteriophages | viruses that infect bacteria |
| gene therapy | the process of treating a disease or disorder by replacing a dysfunctional gene with a functional one |
| bioremediation | the use of bacteria or other organisms to restore environmental conditions |
| site-specific mutagenesis | a technique that involves changing the genetic code of an organism (mutagenesis) in certain sections (site-specific) |
| gel electrophoresis | a process that uses electricity to separate charged molecules, such as DNA fragments, RNA, and proteins, on a gel slab |
| agarose | a carbohydrate froms seaweed that is widely used as a medium for horizontal gel electrophoresis |
| polyacrylamide | a polymer used as a gel material in vertical electrophoresis; used to separate smaller molecules, like proteins and very small pieces of DNA or RNA |
| ethidium bromide | a DNA stain (indicator)l glows orange when it is mixed with DNA and exposed to UV light; abbrev. EtBr |
| methylene blue | a staining dye/indicator that interacts with nucleic acid molecules and proteins, turning them to a very dark blue color |
| reverse transcriptase | an enzyme that transcribes a complementary strand of DNA from a strand of RNA |
| antigens | foreign proteins or molecules that are the target of binding by antibodies |
| epitope | the specific region on a molecule that an antibody binds to |
| ELISA | short for enzyme-linked immunospecific assay; a technique that measures the amount of protein or antibody in a solution |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace