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a Related Biological Terms:

Ames test (Salmonella test)

A test for mutagenicity and carcinogenicity which uses specially constructed bacterial strains, by screening the effects of test compounds for their ability to produce reverse mutations that will restore the ability of the bacteria to grow in the absence of an essential metabolite. Related service: mutagenesis.

Anfinsen cage

A proposed model for chaperone-assisted protein folding in which a chaperone, GroEL for instance, provides an environment in which a denatured protein can unfold and correctly refold, undisturbed by the possibility of aggregation with other unfolded molecules.Ellis, R.J. (1996) Fold Des. 1, R9-R15 Related service: mutagenesis.

Archaea

(see eukaryote)

Arrhenius plot

(see activation energy)

α-imino acid

A carboxylic acid that bears a substituted amino group on its -carbon; commonly proline, hydroxyproline, sarcosine.

a-type ion

In mass spectrometry, an N-terminal fragment of a polypeptide produced by cleavage of the bond between an α-carbon and its neighbouring α-carboxy carbon. A b-type ion is an α-N-terminal acylium ion which results from cleavage of an amide bond, and y-type ions are C-terminal iminium ions from such a cleavage. (see also mass spectrometry (MS))

ab initio

Completely from the beginning, as opposed to pre-existing, e.g. an ab initio complex is one that is assembled from its completely separated subunits, or an ab initio calculation is one that is constructed from theory, rather than from an empirical correlation.

abortive mitosis model

The hypothesis that cells undergo a programmed death when induced to mitosis at an inappropriate phase of the cell cycle. (see also apoptosis)Ucker, D.S. (1991) New Biol. 3, 103-109

absolute configuration

The actual, as opposed to relative to some other compound, orientation of atoms in space at an asymmetrical centre.

absorbance

(see Beer-Lambert equation)

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