biosn.
/ˈbʌɪɒs/, U.S. /ˈbaɪˌɔs/ Now historical.
A growth-promoting substance present in yeast (later identified as a mixture of vitamins).
ΚΠ
1903 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 449 It was shown in 1901, by Wildiers, that pure beer-yeast is not able to develop and ferment rapidly..unless a sufficient quantity of an extract obtained by boiling the same yeast is added to the solution. The unknown substances contained in this extract were termed by the discoverer ‘bios’.
1919 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 38 466 The substance which Wildiers called ‘bios’ might be the same as the vitamine known to be contained in yeast.
1935 Biochemistry 32 431 Pantothenic acid is regarded as the principal constituent of bios.
1953 J. Ramsbottom Mushrooms & Toadstools viii. 81 It was found that bios is a complex substance and components bios I, bios II, [etc.]..were recognised; later they were identified with known growth substances.
1999 Cell Stress & Chaperones 4 171/1 Wildiers proposed that an alcoholic extract of bakers' yeast contains factors called ‘bios’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1903