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Definition

noun, plural: vectors

(1) (epidemiology) An organism or vehicle that transmits the causative agent or disease-causing organism from the reservoir to the host.

(2) (molecular biology) A vehicle (e.g. a plasmid) used to transfer the genetic material such as DNA sequences from the donor organism to the target cell of the recipient organism.

(3) (biology) A biotic agent that disperses reproductive structures of another organism, as a bee transmitting pollen to the stigma of a flower.

(4) (mathematics) A term describing something with both direction and magnitude.

Supplement

In molecular biology, a vector may refer to a plasmid vector, a binary vector, a cloning vector, a shuttle vector, a viral vector, or an expression vector.

Word origin: Latin, from vehere, carrier. Related form(s): vectorial (adjective)

Synonym(s):

• carrier (epidemiology)
• intermediate host (epidemiology)
• pollinator (botany)

See also:

• transfection

Related term(s):

• Mean manifest vector
• Mean vector
• Expression vector
• Vector loop
• Shuttle vector
• Secretion vector
• Host-vector system
• Viral vector

Mentioned in:

• Carrier