What is "co-option"

co-option \co-option\ n. same as co-optation.

n. (alternative spelling of cooption English)

1. n. the selection of a new member (usually by a vote of the existing membership) [syn: co-optation]

2. the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent) [syn: co-optation]

Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelled coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings:

1. the process of adding members to an elected or appointed group at the discretion of members of the body (rather than that of the electors or appointing body) in order to fill vacancies, or to appoint additional members if permitted by the group's Constitution or rules.
2. the process by which a group subsumes or assimilates a smaller or weaker group with related interests; or, similarly, the process by which one group gains converts from another group by attempting to replicate the aspects that they find appealing without adopting the full program or ideals.

The term co-option refers to the capacity of intracellular parasites to use host-cell proteins to complete their vital cycle. Viruses use this mechanism, as their genome is small.

It is also used in a different sense to refer to characters that have been exapted.

Co-option or coöption is a process of appointing members to a group, or an act of absorbing or assimilating.

Co-option or coöption may also refer to:

• Co-option, in evolutionary biology, the shift in function of an adaptation - see exaptation
  • Co-option (biology)