Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The characteristic movement or orientation of an organism or cell along a chemical concentration gradient either toward or away from the chemical stimulus.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The locomotion of organisms or of cells in relation to chemical substances, or the property of certain chemical substances to attract or repel living cells at the point of action: in the first instance there is positive chemotaxis, in the second negative chemotaxis. The peculiar response of the white blood-corpuscles to chemotactic stimulation is of fundamental importance in the defense of the animal organism against bacterial invasion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Biol.) The sensitiveness exhibited by small free-swimming organisms, as bacteria, zoöspores of algæ, etc., to chemical substances held in solution. They may be attracted (
positive chemotaxis ) or repelled (negative chemotaxis ).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology, biochemistry the
movement of acell or anorganism inresponse to achemical stimulant
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun movement by a cell or organism in reaction to a chemical stimulus
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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THE HUMAN BRAIN chemical nature of their surroundings by swimming away, and a positive chemotaxis, which is an adaptive response to the type of chemical change brought about by the presence of something edible.
The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963
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"These same issues of microbial 'navigation,' or so-called chemotaxis, are important for microbial processing of biofuels," said Paul Gilna, director of the ORNL-led DOE BioEnergy
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010
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Using a system of chemical communication known as chemotaxis, bacteria shape the structure of their colonies, sometimes sending an attractive signal, sometimes sending chemicals that tell others to 'stay away.'
SEEDMAGAZINE.COM boustead@seedmediagroup.com 2010
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Using a system of chemical communication known as chemotaxis, bacteria shape the structure of their colonies, sometimes sending an attractive signal, sometimes sending chemicals that tell others to 'stay away.'
SEEDMAGAZINE.COM boustead@seedmediagroup.com 2010
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This complex is crucial for a process known as chemotaxis which controls the movement of a bacterium when it senses a chemical or nutrient gradient in its environment.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories PhysOrg Team 2010
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"These same issues of microbial 'navigation,' or so-called chemotaxis, are important for microbial processing of biofuels," said Paul Gilna, director of the ORNL-led DOE BioEnergy
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This complex is crucial for a process known as chemotaxis which controls the movement of a bacterium when it senses a chemical or nutrient gradient in its environment.
PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010
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This adaptive ability to control movement in response to an environmental stimulus is called chemotaxis, and the research team coined the term predataxis to describe M. xanthus behavior in response to prey.
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The researchers classified the active genes according to function, and found many involved in a process known as chemotaxis, which recruits various immune cells to the site of infection.
Scientific Blogging 2008
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Naama Barkai's deep understanding of the relevant biology and physics allows her to combine experiments and theory to develop novel solutions to fundamental biological problems such as chemotaxis, embryonic development and the organisation of the cellular transcription programmes.
Naama Barkai wins 2008 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award Peggy 2008
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