Search This Blog

Translate

plasmid

Term: plasmid
Origin: Anc Greek
πλάσμα (noun)/plasma(=something formed or molded, an idol) > πλάσσω/plasso(=create, form, mold)
-ίδιο/idio(=-id, suffix that is used as diminutive of a noun )
original meaning of plasma: substance of uncertain shape.
Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008)
Coined:
in the early 1950s by the American geneticist and microbiologist Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008) in order to describe any bacterial genetic element that exists in an extrachromosomal state although this description included bacterial viruses.
Definition:
Bacterial extrachromosomal  DNA elements that replicate autonomously.

2 comments:

FAMOUS AND ANCIENT