Crossword clues for protoplast
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Protoplast \Pro"to*plast\, n. [L. protoplastus the first man, Gr. ? formed or created first; ? first + ? formed, fr. ? to form.]
The thing first formed; that of which there are subsequent copies or reproductions; the original.
-
(Biol.) A first-formed organized body; the first individual, or pair of individuals, of a species.
A species is a class of individuals, each of which is hypothetically considered to be the descendant of the same protoplast, or of the same pair of protoplasts.
--Latham.
Wiktionary
a. (context obsolete English) Created first; archetypal. (16th-17th c.) n. 1 The first-created human; Adam. (from 16th c.) 2 (context rare English) A prototype or archetype; a model. (from 17th c.) 3 The first person in a given family, lineage etc.; an ancestor. (from 17th c.) 4 (context biology English) The contents of a plant cell. (from 19th c.)
WordNet
n. a biological unit consisting of a nucleus and the body of cytoplasm with which it interacts [syn: energid]
Wikipedia
Protoplast, from ancient Greek (prōtóplastos, "first-formed"), in a religious context initially referred to the first human or, more generally, to the first organized body of a species.
In biology, it was proposed by Hanstein (1880) to refer to the entire cell, excluding the cell wall, but currently has several definitions:
- a plant, bacterial or fungal cell that had its cell wall completely or partially removed using either mechanical or enzymatic means. A further differentiation can be made for bacteria:
- protoplasts: have their cell wall entirely removed and are derived from gram + (gram-positive)
- spheroplasts: have their cell wall only partially removed and are gram - (gram-negative)
- more generally, a unit of biology which is composed of a cell's nucleus and the surrounding protoplasmic materials.
Usage examples of "protoplast".
The experiment in protoplast augmentation that she had begun three seasons back under the guidance of the government agricultural agent was reaching its culmination now.
That material then could undergo manipulation, after which the cellular matter, the protoplast, was placed in a culture medium and allowed to regenerate its cell wall.
And it bothered her to have him vanish just as the protoplast experiment was nearing its end.
It was, he said, something called protoplast augmentation, which involved using enzymes to digest the cell walls of plants to give access to the genetic material within.
With our robust bodies of protoplast we are to assist macro-machines to construct a spire which will support yet another tier of the colossus.
In fact, we’ve been isolating medically useful alkaloids from altered leaf protoplasts for several generations — things like atropine and scopolamine and the belladonna that some of the ladies use to make their eyes more beautiful.