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Gene
//d͡ʒiːn// name, noun
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A unisex given name.; A diminutive of the male given name Eugene, also used as a formal male given name.
- 2 A unisex given name.; A female given name, used as a formal female given name.; A diminutive of the female given name Genevieve
- 3 A unisex given name.; A female given name, used as a formal female given name.; A diminutive of the female given name Eugenia
- 4 A surname
Noun
- 1 A theoretical unit of heredity of living organisms which may take several values and (in principle) predetermines a precise trait of an organism's form (phenotype), such as hair color.
"Near-synonym: cistron (often synonymous)"
- 2 (genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity wordnet
- 3 A segment of DNA or RNA from a cell's or an organism's genome, that may take several forms and thus parameterizes a phenomenon, such as (often) the structure of a protein.
"Holonym: locus"
Etymology
From German Gen, from Ancient Greek γενεά (geneá, “generation, descent”), from the aorist infinitive of γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “I come into being”). Coined by Danish botanist Wilhelm Ludwig Johannsen in 1909, in a German-language publication, from the last syllable of pangene.
See also for "gene"
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