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Acellular

Definition

adjective

(1) Of or pertaining to a tissue that is not made of cells or not divided into cells, such as hyphae of some fungi.

(2) Noncellular; a living entity without cell(s), as in the Mimivirus, viroids, prions, satellites, plasmids, etc.

(3) Not containing any cells, as in acellular vaccine.

(4) Unicellular; pertains to single-celled organisms, such as protozoans and ciliates.


Supplement

Word origin: prefix meaning "not," from Gk. a-, an- "not," + NL cellulāris, equiv. to cellul(a) live cell (L: little room).
Related phrases: acellular vaccine.

Synonym: noncellular.
Compare: cellular.
See also: cells, tissues.


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Results from our forum


What is the exact definition of life?

... as the only essential property of life; this definition notably includes viruses, which do not qualify under narrower definitions as they are acellular and do not metabolize" Best i found. In the question of 'What is life?" there can never be a perfect ans.

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by favorina
Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:53 pm
 
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: What is the exact definition of life?
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Views: 1987

A new protein molecule..

To be clearer what you need is a gene that will code for the protein, and a translation system. You can try acellular all the way (mix of synthetic RNA and ribosomes with the right buffers and molecules) or more simply put your bioengineered gene in a host as bacteria. You need ...

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by canalon
Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:42 am
 
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Topic: A new protein molecule..
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Are blood platelets cells?

Just remember I had an anatomy book from a med school student. "Tromocytes or blood platelets. They are acellular components of the blood" "The process of forming new blood plateletss, that assuers the stability of their number takes place in hematogen bone marrow. The cell ...

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by MrMistery
Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:41 pm
 
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Topic: Are blood platelets cells?
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