genen.²

Brit.

/dʒiːn/, U.S.

/dʒin/

Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening; modelled on a German lexical item. Etymon: pangene n.

Etymology: < -gene (in pangene n.), after German Gen ( W. Johannsen Elem. der exacten Erblichkeitslehre (1909) 124; < ancient Greek γεν- , stem of γένος race, offspring (see genus n.), after German Pangen pangene n.). Compare -gen comb. form, and also slightly earlier genetics n. 3, genetic adj. 3.In other major European languages the word has been borrowed subsequently from either German or English (compare, e.g., French gène (1935), Italian gene (1932)).

1. Biology.

a. The basic unit of heredity in living organisms, originally recognized as a discrete physical factor associated with the inheritance of a particular morphological or physiological trait, and later shown to be located at a specific site on a chromosome and to consist of a sequence of DNA (or RNA in certain viruses) containing a code for a protein or RNA molecule, together with any associated sequences necessary for transcription and translation.The existence of discrete physical entities carrying heritable traits from parents to offspring was suggested by the work of Mendel (see Mendelism n.). Pangene (1889), later gene, was one of a number of early terms proposed for entities of this kind; others included factor (or unit factor) and id. Genes were shown to be located on chromosomes by Morgan in 1911, and Avery and co-workers (1944) associated genes with chromosomal DNA. The elucidation of the structure of DNA by Crick and Watson in 1953 led to knowledge of how genetic information is carried and propagated (see genetic code n. at genetic adj. Compounds 2c).Genes exert their effects via transcription into RNA and translation into proteins. Structural genes are both transcribed (into messenger RNA) and translated, and determine the amino acid sequence (primary structure) of proteins. Some genes are only transcribed, especially into transfer and ribosomal RNA. Regulatory genes control the expression of other genes. Cf. also factor n. 8b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > gene

unit factor1886

id1892

gene1909

1909 Amer. Naturalist 43 414 The difference between the two kinds of homozygotes with respect to any unit-character is, that one..has one pair of allelomorphs or ‘genes’ in addition to those possessed by the other kind of homozygote.

1911 W. Johannsen in Amer. Naturalist 45 132 I have proposed the terms ‘gene’ and ‘genotype’..to be used in the science of genetics. The ‘gene’ is nothing but a very applicable little word, easily combined with others, and hence it may be useful as an expression for the ‘unit-factors’, ‘elements’ or ‘allelomorphs’ in the gametes, demonstrated by modern Mendelian researches.

1919 T. H. Morgan Physical Basis of Heredity v. 79 We should expect that the genes in different chromosome pairs will ‘assort’ independently, and this, in fact, is what Mendel's second law postulates.

1925 Nation 3 Oct. 19/1 If..in a given kind of plant there is a single ‘factor’ for flower colour and the flowers are blue or yellow, the gamete will bear either the blue factor (gene) or the yellow one, not both.

1930 G. R. de Beer Embryol. & Evol. iii. 21 By introducing into an egg containing a weak female-producing gene a sperm containing a strong male-producing gene (as may be done by crossing moths of different races), it is possible to convert would-be females into males more or less completely.

1944 V. Nabokov Let. 8 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1989) 47 It is useless looking at a hyena and hoping that one day domestication of a benevolent gene will turn the creature into a great soft purring tortoiseshell cat. Gelding and Mendelism, alas, have their limits.

1946 Nature 6 July 30/2 The evidence indicates that resistance to blight is controlled by major genes, though minor genes determine the degree of susceptibility in susceptible varieties.

1951 J. Hawkes Land vii. 107 The genes of the Norman conquerors are now mingled with those of most of our royal and noble families.

1955 Sci. Amer. July 74/2 Heredity is determined by the chromosomes, the threadlike bodies in the nucleus of the cell, and by their subunits the genes.

1971 Sci. Amer. Aug. 52/1 When we speak of genes, we usually have in mind the hereditary material—the DNA—in the chromosomes of the cell nucleus. Yet genes are also found outside the nucleus in the cytoplasm, notably in association with chloroplasts and mitochondria.

1980 S. J. Gould Panda's Thumb (1982) vi. 72 The probability that two sibs carry the same gene is usually fifty percent.

1989 ‘C. Roman’ Foreplay xxvii. 329 I wonder whether he'll inherit any of my defective genes or, worse, my damnable karma.

1995 J. Shreeve Neandertal Enigma (1996) i. 22 More recently, molecular biologists have revealed that our genes are about 98 percent the same as those of an African ape.

2000 A. Sayle Barcelona Plates 150 Like most people of short stature he was a victim of achondroplasia mutations (chemical changes) within a single gene.

2003 R. Ozeki All over Creation ii. 53 Biotechnology... Fish genes spliced into tomatoes. Bacterial DNA into potatoes.

b. With modifying word: a gene (or group of genes) associated with a particular heritable trait, such as susceptibility to a disease, or with a specific protein.cancer, gay, sex, sickle-cell gene, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > gene > types of gene

sex determinant1902

sex determiner1909

inhibitor1911

multiple factor1912

modifier1915

autosomal dominant1919

autosomal recessive1919

scute1923

gene1925

suppressor1928

rate gene1932

dominigene1938

buffer1939

polygene1941

switch gene1942

mutator1943

oligogene1943

sickle cell gene1946

supergene1949

ob1950

obese1950

regulator1960

regulator gene1960

regulatory gene1960

enhancer1967

oncogene1969

virogene1969

hedgehog1980

1925 T. H. Morgan in Amer. Naturalist 59 133 The locus of the male tendency gene (M) is in the ‘Z-chromosome’ of which two are present in the male and one in the female.

1946 Lancet 10 Aug. 204/1 It seems clear that the sickle-cell gene originated in Africa and was carried by slaves to North and South America.

1962 Man 62 72/1 The myope had little chance of survival or of protecting himself and the myopic gene disappeared.

1970 P. Oliver Savannah Syncopators 41 Those [tribes] on the coast include a large proportion with high counts of the sickle-cell gene making them resistant to malaria and able to withstand heat and high humidity.

1980 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77 4444/1 This clonal cDNA was used as a probe to assay the expression of the calcitonin gene.

1993 New Scientist 18 Sept. 34/1 [She] does not yet know whether she carries the so-called ‘breast cancer gene’.

2000 L. Forbes Fish, Blood & Bone i. xiii. 82 There is something called a ‘founder effect,’ where a gene for colour blindness or dwarfism, say, can be tracked back to a few founding ancestors.

2005 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Aug. 58/3 No one yet knows..whether mutations in the fibrillin gene are common in patients who do not have Marfan's.

2. In figurative and extended use, esp. with reference to qualities regarded as deeply ingrained or (often humorously) as inherited. Often in plural.

ΚΠ

1935 Fortune Aug. 111/1 Keller and Chrysler between them supplied the genes which have determined the corporate appearance.

1955 V. Nabokov Lolita I. ii. 14 My father was a gentle, easygoing person, a salad of racial genes: a Swiss citizen, of mixed French and Austrian descent, with a dash of the Danube in his veins.

1977 L. T. Milic in D. H. Bond & W. R. McLeod Newslett. to Newspapers i. 44 The newspapers of the early Eighteenth Century bore in their genes the flaws that Jefferson execrated a hundred years later.

1988 J. Hersey Requiescat in Fling (1990) 129 Probity was in his genes; he came from a line of citizens who had served..as preacher and teacher,..sheep-mark recorder, trainband ensign.

1989 M. Piesman Unorthodox Pract. ii. 19 She certainly showed signs of inheriting the loudmouth gene.

1991 R. R. McCammon Boy's Life ii. vi. 162 My grandfather didn't really start going crazy until after I was born, and I guess there were sensible genes on my grandmother's side of the family.

2001 Chicago Tribune 2 Nov. iii. 4/6 If you talk to people in their 40s it's like they have an investment gene and they still see the down market as an opportunity.

2004 K. Long Bad Mother's Handbk. (2005) ii. 43 Maybe they thought babies with northern genes needed weaning on cow heel and parkin.

Compounds

Biology.

C1.

a. General attributive, as gene cluster, gene expression, gene family, gene flow, gene map (see map n.¹ 3b), gene mutation, gene product, gene sequence (see sequence n. 2c), gene transfer, etc.

ΚΠ

1921 Amer. Naturalist 55 263 We have seen that chromosomal duplications and related phenomena may simulate gene mutations in their effects upon the individual.

1925 E. W. Sinnott & L. C. Dunn Princ. Genetics 180 There is a basis for constructing a gene map of each chromosome for which there are sufficient data.

1930 Science 17 Oct. 406/2 The many eye-color mutants of Drosophila furnish material for the study of problems in the physiology of gene expression.

1936 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 22 448 So far we have found at least fourteen different gene-sequences in wild stocks.

1939 Jrnl. Ecol. 27 414 In addition genoclines may exist, i.e. with a purely genetic basis, depending on the rate of gene-flow across an interbreeding zone.

1946 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 32 208 The buzzatii-arizonensis cross is an excellent example of the complete elimination of gene transfer.

1963 Science 16 Aug. 613/1 The mechanism that accounts for the role sequential activity of gene families plays in cellular differentiation.

1964 Listener 11 June 952/1 Balanced polymorphism is something different. By this we mean major gene variability within single populations.

1977 D. Morris Manwatching 154 It is only because we see ourselves as ‘persons’ rather than as ‘gene machines’ that we think of these acts of love as unselfish.

1989 E. Lawrence Guide Mod. Biol. xi. 372 The gene probes developed to map and isolate these genes can also be used for prenatal and presymptomatic diagnosis.

1990 E. Harth Dawn of Millennium (1991) iii. 45 Gene flow must have been a very slow process, considering the sparsity of the population and the vast distances involved.

1991 Sci. Amer. Aug. 92/1 The yeast cells use pheromones to coordinate their reproductive activities, and even these hormonelike chemical messengers work by influencing gene transcription.

1993 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (ed. 3) ii. 33/1 Some genes..affect several characters since the same gene products may be used in different biochemical pathways.

1997 W. Shatner Avenger xli. 353 Forget all that fancy gene expression crap and stick to salicylic acid.

1999 G. Bear Darwin's Radio xiii. 71 Grants..to analyze archaic gene fragments found in the so-called junk regions of human genes.

2000 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 2 Nov. 50/1 Women with the gene mutations BRCA or BRCA2..have a lifetime risk of breast cancer ranging up to 85 percent.

2004 Jrnl. Bacteriol. 186 5031 Sequence analysis of the gene cluster indicated that a polycistronic transcript is synthesized.

b. Objective, instrumental, parasynthetic, similative, etc., as gene cloning, gene mapping (see mapping n. 1b), gene sequencing (cf. sequence v. 2), etc.; gene-based, gene-poor, gene-rich, etc.

ΚΠ

1934 Science 5 Oct. (Suppl.) 10/1 This constituted the first truly quantitative, accurate gene-mapping ever accomplished.

1949 New Biol. 7 82 If one particular region of one chromosome happened to be inverted,..then the gene-specific pairing takes place with the formation of an ‘inversion’ loop.

1966 Q. Rev. Biol. 41 6/1 At this point we can see a common feature to living systems, be they metabolic reactions or gene-based systems: they are evolvable.

1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 28 Mar. 695/2 Since the disorder is extremely rare and occurred in three sibships of a single family it is most probably gene determined.

1970 E. J. Ambrose & D. M. Easty Cell Biol. x. 346 Transformation is a very inefficient process but has proved useful for gene mapping in bacteria where a suitable transducing phage is not known.

1978 Science 3 Feb. 518/1 Gene sequencing has also been used to confirm the presence of an intervening sequence in an immunoglobulin (antibody) gene.

1986 Sci. Amer. Mar. 44/2 The advent of gene cloning has produced the novel situation in which some protein sequences are determined indirectly.

1990 Sci. Amer. May 41/3 We treated the first person ever to receive gene-modified cells on May 22, 1989.

1993 New Scientist 19 June 5/1 To ensure that..‘biodiversity prospectors’ contribute to conservation and the equitable sharing of profits, rather than simply raiding the ‘gene-rich, technology-poor’ nations.

1997 Harper's Mag. Dec. 41 The stated hopes for the application of gene mapping include a greater understanding of DNA and all biological organisms..and a windfall for agribusiness and other biotech industries.

2000 Times 7 Aug. 22/2 APB makes gene-sequencing machines, which helped to crack the human genetic code.

2001 Nature 15 Feb. 815/1 Heterochromatin... Compact, gene-poor regions of a genome, which are enriched in simple sequence repeats... Heterochromatin was originally defined as regions of the genome that stained differently to euchromatin (gene-rich regions).

2001 Poultry World May 33/1 Our first test, confirmed by gene sequencing, showed that the turkey virus was indeed a coronavirus.

2004 Owl Canad. Family May 64 A new technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis..can detect over two dozen gene-specific illnesses, including cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and Tay-Sachs.

C2.

gene bank n. a collection of animals, plants, seeds, etc., maintained as a repository of genetic material, esp. to preserve genetic diversity.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [noun] > genetic techniques > gene bank

gene bank1964

1964 Nature 11 Apr. 132/2 The Zoological Society of London..has set aside an area..to establish small flocks and herds which are to be bred under expert guidance... Great efforts will be made to ensure the success of this scheme—the Gene Bank.

1971 New Scientist 13 May 413/2 With animals, zoos may provide a last gene bank for species which cannot be protected in their natural habitats.

1991 J. Rifkin Biosphere Politics i. ix. 67 Many nations are also beginning to establish additional gene banks to store rare microorganisms and frozen animal embryos.

2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 May a16/4 We can save the farmers' old varieties through gene banks and small-scale gene farms, without locking up half of the planet's arable land as a low-yield gene museum.

gene chip n. a DNA microarray, used esp. to identify genes and analyse gene expression.

ΚΠ

1996 Pharma Marketletter 26 Feb. 28/3 Genetics Institute has signed a new collaborative agreement with Affymetrix, extending their program of using Affymetrix' Gene-Chip technology for monitoring the expression of genes and identifying targets for drug discovery.

2003 N.Y. Times 2 Oct. c1/5 Gene chips, which detect genes that are active, meaning they are being used to make a protein, have become essential tools.

gene complex n. Genetics (a) a set of functionally related genes; (in later use) spec. a group of closely linked genes coding for a similar or identical product, which are typically regulated together but do not form a single transcriptional unit; (b) the genotype or the genes of an organism, or some subset of them, considered as a unit.

ΚΠ

1912 W. E. Castle et al. Heredity & Eugenics vii. 135 If it is a question of which of a lot of beans is homozygous for the gene-complex of large size, the complexity of factors concerned may require a greater number of progeny.

1912 Amer. Naturalist 46 651 Gradual isolation of races having the proper gene complex for complete expression of the characters is to be expected.

1950 J. S. Huxley Huxley Memorial Lect. (Royal Anthropol. Inst.) 3/2 Integrative mechanisms, such as the nervous and endocrine systems, are quite distinct from the transmissive mechanism of the gene-complex in the chromosomes.

1961 Lancet 7 Jan. 14/2 The Rh genotype of the person concerned was described as D– –/D– –, and it was considered possible that the C and E portions of the Rh gene complex had been lost by deletion from the Rh chromosome.

1964 C. A. Clarke Genetics for Clinician iv. 48 Part of this variability in the phenotype..arises because some genes are unable to manifest their effects in a particular gene-complex.

2011 Cellular & Molecular Life Sci. 68 977/2 Gene complexes can vary in size starting from a pair of genes (e.g., en/inv complex)..and up to five genes or more (e.g., hox, heart and globin complex).

gene doping n. the (putative) transfer of genes or genetically modified cells into an individual as a clandestine method of improving performance in sport; cf. blood doping n. at blood n. Compounds 5.

ΚΠ

1999 Guardian 15 Dec. (G2 section) 16/3 Initially, gene-doping will only be used on a fraction of cells.

2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 29 Aug. iv. 10/6 Athletes and coaches, eager to gain that split-second advantage, may try to beat the crackdown on traditional drugs by turning to new gene-doping techniques that would be harder to detect.

2009 H. M. E. Azzazzy in D. Thieme & P. Hemmersbach Doping in Sports 487 According to the..World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), gene doping is defined as ‘non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to enhance athletic performance’.

gene drive n. a natural or synthetic genetic element that introduces a bias in the relative chance of inheriting distinct versions of a set of genes, enabling one to spread rapidly in a population at the expense of others even if it is disadvantageous to the organism; (also) genetic engineering technology involving the creation or insertion of such an element.

ΚΠ

2004 Insect Biochem. & Molecular Biol. 34 723 Wolbachia are maternally inherited bacteria that induce cytoplasmic incompatibility in mosquitoes, and are able to use these patterns of sterility to spread themselves through populations. For this reason they have been proposed as a gene drive system for mosquito genetic replacement.

2016 Guardian (Nexis) 10 June Imagine for a moment that a hostile actor could crash the harvest of an island state by quietly introducing a gene drive or could insert a gene drive into a biting insect population to deliver toxins.

2018 C. J. Preston Synthetic Age vi. 90 Although gene editing can work on only one genome at a time, a new technology called a gene drive enables fast-breeding populations to spread engineered traits quickly through their wild populations.

gene frequency n. the frequency of a given allele of a gene in a population (expressed as a proportion of the total number of alleles of the gene).

ΚΠ

1929 Amer. Naturalist 63 559 Factors which are almost neutral to all other evolutionary forces should be highly unstable with respect to gene frequency.

1985 Cambr. Encycl. Life Sci. iii. 114/2 Population genetics..attempts to relate changes in gene frequency within a population over time to the effects of selection and the genetic system of the species.

2004 B. Bunch & A. Hellemans Hist. Sci. & Technol. 474/3 Random mating within one generation will produce an approximately stationary genotype distribution with an unchanged gene frequency.

gene gun n. a device which propels tiny metal beads coated with DNA into tissues, in order to introduce genes into cells.

ΚΠ

1987 N.Y. Times 26 May c3/1 The Cornell gene gun is based on a gunpowder-operated tool used by builders to hurl nails into concrete walls.

1997 Agric. Res. Jan. 11/1 Delivered by the sapphire-tipped gene gun,..the DNA dissolved in salt water is atomized into fine droplets that find their way into the cells.

2002 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 21 Apr. i. 16/2 To develop the grasses, scientists..use a gene gun to shoot plant DNA into a tissue of grass.

gene pool n. the total number of alleles possessed by a breeding population; (in extended use) the sum total of genetic material in a group or population.Sometimes used with a pun on non-figurative uses of pool, as in quot. 2004.

ΚΠ

1941 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 46 499 It seems unlikely that any geneticist would regard as particularly significant any such a subtraction from the total gene pool of a population of roughly one hundred million.

1970 Times 29 Dec. 10/6 There is a necessity to conserve a wide range of different genes in the ‘gene pool’ from which new strains can be selected.

1989 R. MacNeil Wordstruck i. 5 Enriching the gene pool were German farmer-fishermen, poor Scots crofters, a family of Irish actors and theater managers, and a whispered assortment of drunkards, wastrels, and charming ne'er-do-wells.

1999 D. Mitchell Ghostwritten 423 Go join a doomsday cult, friend. Remove yourself from the gene pool.

2004 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Feb. 161/2 Large and burly, Jeff..looked as if he'd been dipped in the Weinstein gene pool.

2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 8 Nov. a26/1 A consensus felt that, yes, ‘we need to increase the gene pool of our elected officials beyond the professional pols.’

gene silencing n. the suppression of the expression of a gene, occurring either naturally or as a result of genetic engineering.

ΚΠ

1977 Nature 20 Jan. 259/1 We present evidence of extensive gene silencing in the 50-Myr history of a family of tetraploid species.

1997 Biochemist Feb. 21/2 Because the transgene is identical to the gene already in the plant, it causes gene silencing (co-suppression) and inhibits the expression of the endogenous gene.

2004 Independent 2 Aug. 7/2 This is the first example of targeted gene silencing of a disease gene [sc. Huntington's] in the brains of live animals.

gene splicing n. the joining of DNA fragments, esp. by means of complementary single-stranded terminal sequences; gene transfer achieved by this means.

ΚΠ

1977 Science 28 Jan. 378/1 The gene transfer was conducted with the use of plasmids, not with the restriction enzymes used in the present gene-splicing technique.

1987 N.Y. Times 17 Apr. a1/1 The Federal Government..said today that it was clearing the way for inventors to patent new forms of animal life created through gene splicing.

1999 P. Holden in G. Tansey & J. D'Silva Meat Business xv. 165 We see the technology as merely an extension of current high input farming, substituting gene splicing for pesticides.

gene therapy n. the introduction of a new, functional gene into an organism in order to treat an inherited disorder or other disease; an instance of this.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [noun] > other miscellaneous treatments

majoration1626

relaxant1661

diaeresis1706

blistering1711

Perkinism1798

tranquillizing1801

tractoration1803

tractorism1827

moxibustion1833

traction1841

remediation1850

moxocausis1857

bed-rest1872

aerotherapeutics1876

aerotherapy1876

metallotherapy1877

block1882

counter-irritation1882

bacteriotherapy1886

mechanotherapy1890

mobilization1890

seismotherapy1901

bacterization1902

replacement therapy1902

biotherapy1912

occupational therapy1915

protein therapy1917

psychophysicotherapeutics1922

recovery programme1922

plombage1933

bacteriostasis1936

oestrogenization1960

hyperalimentation1962

vegetablization1963

pain management1966

palliative care1967

gene therapy1970

1970 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 67 37 Pseudovirions may also be useful prototypes for investigating, in experimental animals, the technical problems involved in the use of DNA for gene therapy of inherited diseases of man.

1986 Nature 20 Mar. 225/1 Within the next twelve months, it is likely that a proposal to perform gene therapy in humans will be submitted to local and national review bodies in the United States.

2003 S. Greenfield Tomorrow's People (2004) ii. 25 Gene therapy is now finally in common clinical use, whereby rogue or aberrant genes linked to disease are modified, ideally before they can realize their unwelcome potential.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	gene
释义	genen.² Brit. /dʒiːn/, U.S. /dʒin/ Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening; modelled on a German lexical item. Etymon: pangene n. Etymology: < -gene (in pangene n.), after German Gen ( W. Johannsen Elem. der exacten Erblichkeitslehre (1909) 124; < ancient Greek γεν- , stem of γένος race, offspring (see genus n.), after German Pangen pangene n.). Compare -gen comb. form, and also slightly earlier genetics n. 3, genetic adj. 3.In other major European languages the word has been borrowed subsequently from either German or English (compare, e.g., French gène (1935), Italian gene (1932)). 1. Biology. a. The basic unit of heredity in living organisms, originally recognized as a discrete physical factor associated with the inheritance of a particular morphological or physiological trait, and later shown to be located at a specific site on a chromosome and to consist of a sequence of DNA (or RNA in certain viruses) containing a code for a protein or RNA molecule, together with any associated sequences necessary for transcription and translation.The existence of discrete physical entities carrying heritable traits from parents to offspring was suggested by the work of Mendel (see Mendelism n.). Pangene (1889), later gene, was one of a number of early terms proposed for entities of this kind; others included factor (or unit factor) and id. Genes were shown to be located on chromosomes by Morgan in 1911, and Avery and co-workers (1944) associated genes with chromosomal DNA. The elucidation of the structure of DNA by Crick and Watson in 1953 led to knowledge of how genetic information is carried and propagated (see genetic code n. at genetic adj. Compounds 2c).Genes exert their effects via transcription into RNA and translation into proteins. Structural genes are both transcribed (into messenger RNA) and translated, and determine the amino acid sequence (primary structure) of proteins. Some genes are only transcribed, especially into transfer and ribosomal RNA. Regulatory genes control the expression of other genes. Cf. also factor n. 8b. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > gene unit factor1886 id1892 gene1909 1909 Amer. Naturalist 43 414 The difference between the two kinds of homozygotes with respect to any unit-character is, that one..has one pair of allelomorphs or ‘genes’ in addition to those possessed by the other kind of homozygote. 1911 W. Johannsen in Amer. Naturalist 45 132 I have proposed the terms ‘gene’ and ‘genotype’..to be used in the science of genetics. The ‘gene’ is nothing but a very applicable little word, easily combined with others, and hence it may be useful as an expression for the ‘unit-factors’, ‘elements’ or ‘allelomorphs’ in the gametes, demonstrated by modern Mendelian researches. 1919 T. H. Morgan Physical Basis of Heredity v. 79 We should expect that the genes in different chromosome pairs will ‘assort’ independently, and this, in fact, is what Mendel's second law postulates. 1925 Nation 3 Oct. 19/1 If..in a given kind of plant there is a single ‘factor’ for flower colour and the flowers are blue or yellow, the gamete will bear either the blue factor (gene) or the yellow one, not both. 1930 G. R. de Beer Embryol. & Evol. iii. 21 By introducing into an egg containing a weak female-producing gene a sperm containing a strong male-producing gene (as may be done by crossing moths of different races), it is possible to convert would-be females into males more or less completely. 1944 V. Nabokov Let. 8 Feb. in Sel. Lett. (1989) 47 It is useless looking at a hyena and hoping that one day domestication of a benevolent gene will turn the creature into a great soft purring tortoiseshell cat. Gelding and Mendelism, alas, have their limits. 1946 Nature 6 July 30/2 The evidence indicates that resistance to blight is controlled by major genes, though minor genes determine the degree of susceptibility in susceptible varieties. 1951 J. Hawkes Land vii. 107 The genes of the Norman conquerors are now mingled with those of most of our royal and noble families. 1955 Sci. Amer. July 74/2 Heredity is determined by the chromosomes, the threadlike bodies in the nucleus of the cell, and by their subunits the genes. 1971 Sci. Amer. Aug. 52/1 When we speak of genes, we usually have in mind the hereditary material—the DNA—in the chromosomes of the cell nucleus. Yet genes are also found outside the nucleus in the cytoplasm, notably in association with chloroplasts and mitochondria. 1980 S. J. Gould Panda's Thumb (1982) vi. 72 The probability that two sibs carry the same gene is usually fifty percent. 1989 ‘C. Roman’ Foreplay xxvii. 329 I wonder whether he'll inherit any of my defective genes or, worse, my damnable karma. 1995 J. Shreeve Neandertal Enigma (1996) i. 22 More recently, molecular biologists have revealed that our genes are about 98 percent the same as those of an African ape. 2000 A. Sayle Barcelona Plates 150 Like most people of short stature he was a victim of achondroplasia mutations (chemical changes) within a single gene. 2003 R. Ozeki All over Creation ii. 53 Biotechnology... Fish genes spliced into tomatoes. Bacterial DNA into potatoes. b. With modifying word: a gene (or group of genes) associated with a particular heritable trait, such as susceptibility to a disease, or with a specific protein.cancer, gay, sex, sickle-cell gene, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > gene > types of gene sex determinant1902 sex determiner1909 inhibitor1911 multiple factor1912 modifier1915 autosomal dominant1919 autosomal recessive1919 scute1923 gene1925 suppressor1928 rate gene1932 dominigene1938 buffer1939 polygene1941 switch gene1942 mutator1943 oligogene1943 sickle cell gene1946 supergene1949 ob1950 obese1950 regulator1960 regulator gene1960 regulatory gene1960 enhancer1967 oncogene1969 virogene1969 hedgehog1980 1925 T. H. Morgan in Amer. Naturalist 59 133 The locus of the male tendency gene (M) is in the ‘Z-chromosome’ of which two are present in the male and one in the female. 1946 Lancet 10 Aug. 204/1 It seems clear that the sickle-cell gene originated in Africa and was carried by slaves to North and South America. 1962 Man 62 72/1 The myope had little chance of survival or of protecting himself and the myopic gene disappeared. 1970 P. Oliver Savannah Syncopators 41 Those [tribes] on the coast include a large proportion with high counts of the sickle-cell gene making them resistant to malaria and able to withstand heat and high humidity. 1980 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77 4444/1 This clonal cDNA was used as a probe to assay the expression of the calcitonin gene. 1993 New Scientist 18 Sept. 34/1 [She] does not yet know whether she carries the so-called ‘breast cancer gene’. 2000 L. Forbes Fish, Blood & Bone i. xiii. 82 There is something called a ‘founder effect,’ where a gene for colour blindness or dwarfism, say, can be tracked back to a few founding ancestors. 2005 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Aug. 58/3 No one yet knows..whether mutations in the fibrillin gene are common in patients who do not have Marfan's. 2. In figurative and extended use, esp. with reference to qualities regarded as deeply ingrained or (often humorously) as inherited. Often in plural. ΚΠ 1935 Fortune Aug. 111/1 Keller and Chrysler between them supplied the genes which have determined the corporate appearance. 1955 V. Nabokov Lolita I. ii. 14 My father was a gentle, easygoing person, a salad of racial genes: a Swiss citizen, of mixed French and Austrian descent, with a dash of the Danube in his veins. 1977 L. T. Milic in D. H. Bond & W. R. McLeod Newslett. to Newspapers i. 44 The newspapers of the early Eighteenth Century bore in their genes the flaws that Jefferson execrated a hundred years later. 1988 J. Hersey Requiescat in Fling (1990) 129 Probity was in his genes; he came from a line of citizens who had served..as preacher and teacher,..sheep-mark recorder, trainband ensign. 1989 M. Piesman Unorthodox Pract. ii. 19 She certainly showed signs of inheriting the loudmouth gene. 1991 R. R. McCammon Boy's Life ii. vi. 162 My grandfather didn't really start going crazy until after I was born, and I guess there were sensible genes on my grandmother's side of the family. 2001 Chicago Tribune 2 Nov. iii. 4/6 If you talk to people in their 40s it's like they have an investment gene and they still see the down market as an opportunity. 2004 K. Long Bad Mother's Handbk. (2005) ii. 43 Maybe they thought babies with northern genes needed weaning on cow heel and parkin. Compounds Biology. C1. a. General attributive, as gene cluster, gene expression, gene family, gene flow, gene map (see map n.¹ 3b), gene mutation, gene product, gene sequence (see sequence n. 2c), gene transfer, etc. ΚΠ 1921 Amer. Naturalist 55 263 We have seen that chromosomal duplications and related phenomena may simulate gene mutations in their effects upon the individual. 1925 E. W. Sinnott & L. C. Dunn Princ. Genetics 180 There is a basis for constructing a gene map of each chromosome for which there are sufficient data. 1930 Science 17 Oct. 406/2 The many eye-color mutants of Drosophila furnish material for the study of problems in the physiology of gene expression. 1936 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 22 448 So far we have found at least fourteen different gene-sequences in wild stocks. 1939 Jrnl. Ecol. 27 414 In addition genoclines may exist, i.e. with a purely genetic basis, depending on the rate of gene-flow across an interbreeding zone. 1946 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 32 208 The buzzatii-arizonensis cross is an excellent example of the complete elimination of gene transfer. 1963 Science 16 Aug. 613/1 The mechanism that accounts for the role sequential activity of gene families plays in cellular differentiation. 1964 Listener 11 June 952/1 Balanced polymorphism is something different. By this we mean major gene variability within single populations. 1977 D. Morris Manwatching 154 It is only because we see ourselves as ‘persons’ rather than as ‘gene machines’ that we think of these acts of love as unselfish. 1989 E. Lawrence Guide Mod. Biol. xi. 372 The gene probes developed to map and isolate these genes can also be used for prenatal and presymptomatic diagnosis. 1990 E. Harth Dawn of Millennium (1991) iii. 45 Gene flow must have been a very slow process, considering the sparsity of the population and the vast distances involved. 1991 Sci. Amer. Aug. 92/1 The yeast cells use pheromones to coordinate their reproductive activities, and even these hormonelike chemical messengers work by influencing gene transcription. 1993 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (ed. 3) ii. 33/1 Some genes..affect several characters since the same gene products may be used in different biochemical pathways. 1997 W. Shatner Avenger xli. 353 Forget all that fancy gene expression crap and stick to salicylic acid. 1999 G. Bear Darwin's Radio xiii. 71 Grants..to analyze archaic gene fragments found in the so-called junk regions of human genes. 2000 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 2 Nov. 50/1 Women with the gene mutations BRCA or BRCA2..have a lifetime risk of breast cancer ranging up to 85 percent. 2004 Jrnl. Bacteriol. 186 5031 Sequence analysis of the gene cluster indicated that a polycistronic transcript is synthesized. b. Objective, instrumental, parasynthetic, similative, etc., as gene cloning, gene mapping (see mapping n. 1b), gene sequencing (cf. sequence v. 2), etc.; gene-based, gene-poor, gene-rich, etc. ΚΠ 1934 Science 5 Oct. (Suppl.) 10/1 This constituted the first truly quantitative, accurate gene-mapping ever accomplished. 1949 New Biol. 7 82 If one particular region of one chromosome happened to be inverted,..then the gene-specific pairing takes place with the formation of an ‘inversion’ loop. 1966 Q. Rev. Biol. 41 6/1 At this point we can see a common feature to living systems, be they metabolic reactions or gene-based systems: they are evolvable. 1968 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 28 Mar. 695/2 Since the disorder is extremely rare and occurred in three sibships of a single family it is most probably gene determined. 1970 E. J. Ambrose & D. M. Easty Cell Biol. x. 346 Transformation is a very inefficient process but has proved useful for gene mapping in bacteria where a suitable transducing phage is not known. 1978 Science 3 Feb. 518/1 Gene sequencing has also been used to confirm the presence of an intervening sequence in an immunoglobulin (antibody) gene. 1986 Sci. Amer. Mar. 44/2 The advent of gene cloning has produced the novel situation in which some protein sequences are determined indirectly. 1990 Sci. Amer. May 41/3 We treated the first person ever to receive gene-modified cells on May 22, 1989. 1993 New Scientist 19 June 5/1 To ensure that..‘biodiversity prospectors’ contribute to conservation and the equitable sharing of profits, rather than simply raiding the ‘gene-rich, technology-poor’ nations. 1997 Harper's Mag. Dec. 41 The stated hopes for the application of gene mapping include a greater understanding of DNA and all biological organisms..and a windfall for agribusiness and other biotech industries. 2000 Times 7 Aug. 22/2 APB makes gene-sequencing machines, which helped to crack the human genetic code. 2001 Nature 15 Feb. 815/1 Heterochromatin... Compact, gene-poor regions of a genome, which are enriched in simple sequence repeats... Heterochromatin was originally defined as regions of the genome that stained differently to euchromatin (gene-rich regions). 2001 Poultry World May 33/1 Our first test, confirmed by gene sequencing, showed that the turkey virus was indeed a coronavirus. 2004 Owl Canad. Family May 64 A new technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis..can detect over two dozen gene-specific illnesses, including cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and Tay-Sachs. C2. gene bank n. a collection of animals, plants, seeds, etc., maintained as a repository of genetic material, esp. to preserve genetic diversity. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [noun] > genetic techniques > gene bank gene bank1964 1964 Nature 11 Apr. 132/2 The Zoological Society of London..has set aside an area..to establish small flocks and herds which are to be bred under expert guidance... Great efforts will be made to ensure the success of this scheme—the Gene Bank. 1971 New Scientist 13 May 413/2 With animals, zoos may provide a last gene bank for species which cannot be protected in their natural habitats. 1991 J. Rifkin Biosphere Politics i. ix. 67 Many nations are also beginning to establish additional gene banks to store rare microorganisms and frozen animal embryos. 2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 May a16/4 We can save the farmers' old varieties through gene banks and small-scale gene farms, without locking up half of the planet's arable land as a low-yield gene museum. gene chip n. a DNA microarray, used esp. to identify genes and analyse gene expression. ΚΠ 1996 Pharma Marketletter 26 Feb. 28/3 Genetics Institute has signed a new collaborative agreement with Affymetrix, extending their program of using Affymetrix' Gene-Chip technology for monitoring the expression of genes and identifying targets for drug discovery. 2003 N.Y. Times 2 Oct. c1/5 Gene chips, which detect genes that are active, meaning they are being used to make a protein, have become essential tools. gene complex n. Genetics (a) a set of functionally related genes; (in later use) spec. a group of closely linked genes coding for a similar or identical product, which are typically regulated together but do not form a single transcriptional unit; (b) the genotype or the genes of an organism, or some subset of them, considered as a unit. ΚΠ 1912 W. E. Castle et al. Heredity & Eugenics vii. 135 If it is a question of which of a lot of beans is homozygous for the gene-complex of large size, the complexity of factors concerned may require a greater number of progeny. 1912 Amer. Naturalist 46 651 Gradual isolation of races having the proper gene complex for complete expression of the characters is to be expected. 1950 J. S. Huxley Huxley Memorial Lect. (Royal Anthropol. Inst.) 3/2 Integrative mechanisms, such as the nervous and endocrine systems, are quite distinct from the transmissive mechanism of the gene-complex in the chromosomes. 1961 Lancet 7 Jan. 14/2 The Rh genotype of the person concerned was described as D– –/D– –, and it was considered possible that the C and E portions of the Rh gene complex had been lost by deletion from the Rh chromosome. 1964 C. A. Clarke Genetics for Clinician iv. 48 Part of this variability in the phenotype..arises because some genes are unable to manifest their effects in a particular gene-complex. 2011 Cellular & Molecular Life Sci. 68 977/2 Gene complexes can vary in size starting from a pair of genes (e.g., en/inv complex)..and up to five genes or more (e.g., hox, heart and globin complex). gene doping n. the (putative) transfer of genes or genetically modified cells into an individual as a clandestine method of improving performance in sport; cf. blood doping n. at blood n. Compounds 5. ΚΠ 1999 Guardian 15 Dec. (G2 section) 16/3 Initially, gene-doping will only be used on a fraction of cells. 2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 29 Aug. iv. 10/6 Athletes and coaches, eager to gain that split-second advantage, may try to beat the crackdown on traditional drugs by turning to new gene-doping techniques that would be harder to detect. 2009 H. M. E. Azzazzy in D. Thieme & P. Hemmersbach Doping in Sports 487 According to the..World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), gene doping is defined as ‘non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to enhance athletic performance’. gene drive n. a natural or synthetic genetic element that introduces a bias in the relative chance of inheriting distinct versions of a set of genes, enabling one to spread rapidly in a population at the expense of others even if it is disadvantageous to the organism; (also) genetic engineering technology involving the creation or insertion of such an element. ΚΠ 2004 Insect Biochem. & Molecular Biol. 34 723 Wolbachia are maternally inherited bacteria that induce cytoplasmic incompatibility in mosquitoes, and are able to use these patterns of sterility to spread themselves through populations. For this reason they have been proposed as a gene drive system for mosquito genetic replacement. 2016 Guardian (Nexis) 10 June Imagine for a moment that a hostile actor could crash the harvest of an island state by quietly introducing a gene drive or could insert a gene drive into a biting insect population to deliver toxins. 2018 C. J. Preston Synthetic Age vi. 90 Although gene editing can work on only one genome at a time, a new technology called a gene drive enables fast-breeding populations to spread engineered traits quickly through their wild populations. gene frequency n. the frequency of a given allele of a gene in a population (expressed as a proportion of the total number of alleles of the gene). ΚΠ 1929 Amer. Naturalist 63 559 Factors which are almost neutral to all other evolutionary forces should be highly unstable with respect to gene frequency. 1985 Cambr. Encycl. Life Sci. iii. 114/2 Population genetics..attempts to relate changes in gene frequency within a population over time to the effects of selection and the genetic system of the species. 2004 B. Bunch & A. Hellemans Hist. Sci. & Technol. 474/3 Random mating within one generation will produce an approximately stationary genotype distribution with an unchanged gene frequency. gene gun n. a device which propels tiny metal beads coated with DNA into tissues, in order to introduce genes into cells. ΚΠ 1987 N.Y. Times 26 May c3/1 The Cornell gene gun is based on a gunpowder-operated tool used by builders to hurl nails into concrete walls. 1997 Agric. Res. Jan. 11/1 Delivered by the sapphire-tipped gene gun,..the DNA dissolved in salt water is atomized into fine droplets that find their way into the cells. 2002 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 21 Apr. i. 16/2 To develop the grasses, scientists..use a gene gun to shoot plant DNA into a tissue of grass. gene pool n. the total number of alleles possessed by a breeding population; (in extended use) the sum total of genetic material in a group or population.Sometimes used with a pun on non-figurative uses of pool, as in quot. 2004. ΚΠ 1941 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 46 499 It seems unlikely that any geneticist would regard as particularly significant any such a subtraction from the total gene pool of a population of roughly one hundred million. 1970 Times 29 Dec. 10/6 There is a necessity to conserve a wide range of different genes in the ‘gene pool’ from which new strains can be selected. 1989 R. MacNeil Wordstruck i. 5 Enriching the gene pool were German farmer-fishermen, poor Scots crofters, a family of Irish actors and theater managers, and a whispered assortment of drunkards, wastrels, and charming ne'er-do-wells. 1999 D. Mitchell Ghostwritten 423 Go join a doomsday cult, friend. Remove yourself from the gene pool. 2004 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Feb. 161/2 Large and burly, Jeff..looked as if he'd been dipped in the Weinstein gene pool. 2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 8 Nov. a26/1 A consensus felt that, yes, ‘we need to increase the gene pool of our elected officials beyond the professional pols.’ gene silencing n. the suppression of the expression of a gene, occurring either naturally or as a result of genetic engineering. ΚΠ 1977 Nature 20 Jan. 259/1 We present evidence of extensive gene silencing in the 50-Myr history of a family of tetraploid species. 1997 Biochemist Feb. 21/2 Because the transgene is identical to the gene already in the plant, it causes gene silencing (co-suppression) and inhibits the expression of the endogenous gene. 2004 Independent 2 Aug. 7/2 This is the first example of targeted gene silencing of a disease gene [sc. Huntington's] in the brains of live animals. gene splicing n. the joining of DNA fragments, esp. by means of complementary single-stranded terminal sequences; gene transfer achieved by this means. ΚΠ 1977 Science 28 Jan. 378/1 The gene transfer was conducted with the use of plasmids, not with the restriction enzymes used in the present gene-splicing technique. 1987 N.Y. Times 17 Apr. a1/1 The Federal Government..said today that it was clearing the way for inventors to patent new forms of animal life created through gene splicing. 1999 P. Holden in G. Tansey & J. D'Silva Meat Business xv. 165 We see the technology as merely an extension of current high input farming, substituting gene splicing for pesticides. gene therapy n. the introduction of a new, functional gene into an organism in order to treat an inherited disorder or other disease; an instance of this. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [noun] > other miscellaneous treatments majoration1626 relaxant1661 diaeresis1706 blistering1711 Perkinism1798 tranquillizing1801 tractoration1803 tractorism1827 moxibustion1833 traction1841 remediation1850 moxocausis1857 bed-rest1872 aerotherapeutics1876 aerotherapy1876 metallotherapy1877 block1882 counter-irritation1882 bacteriotherapy1886 mechanotherapy1890 mobilization1890 seismotherapy1901 bacterization1902 replacement therapy1902 biotherapy1912 occupational therapy1915 protein therapy1917 psychophysicotherapeutics1922 recovery programme1922 plombage1933 bacteriostasis1936 oestrogenization1960 hyperalimentation1962 vegetablization1963 pain management1966 palliative care1967 gene therapy1970 1970 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 67 37 Pseudovirions may also be useful prototypes for investigating, in experimental animals, the technical problems involved in the use of DNA for gene therapy of inherited diseases of man. 1986 Nature 20 Mar. 225/1 Within the next twelve months, it is likely that a proposal to perform gene therapy in humans will be submitted to local and national review bodies in the United States. 2003 S. Greenfield Tomorrow's People (2004) ii. 25 Gene therapy is now finally in common clinical use, whereby rogue or aberrant genes linked to disease are modified, ideally before they can realize their unwelcome potential. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.²1909
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genen.2

Compounds

genen.²