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a Related Biological Terms:

bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)

A cloning vector that can accept up to 350-kb fragments for cloning and sequencing of fragments of the human genome. Phage artificial chromosomes are similarly used.(see also cosmid; yeast artificial chromosome (YAC))Venter, J.C., Smith, H.O. and Hood, L. (1996) Nature (London) 381, 364-366 Recommended reading: next generation sequencing

bacteriophage

A virus that infects bacteria. Many phage have proved useful in the study of molecular biology and as vectors for the transfer of genetic information between cells. Lytic phage, e.g. the T series phage that infect E. coli (coliphages), invariably lyse a cell following infection; temperate phage, e.g. lambda bacteriophage, can also undergo a lytic cycle or can enter a lysogenic cycle, in which the phage DNA is incorporated into that of the host, awaiting a signal that initiates events leading to replication of the virus and lysis of the host cell. Related tool: molecular biology tools

bait

see two-hybrid system

bait region

A sequence of an α2-macroglobulin molecule, and of homologous proteins, that contains scissile peptide bonds for those proteinases that it inhibits. (see also hook region)

balanced polymorphism

The result of selective pressures for and against a deleterious mutation that permits it to persist in a population. An example is the stable presence in Africa of the sickle cell gene due to the protection against malaria enjoyed by heterozygotes, i.e. those with sickle cell trait.

band centrifugation

(= density-gradient centrifugation)

band competition assay

(= gel retardation assay; see gel shift assay (electrophoretic mobility shift assay; EMSA))

band compression

An electrophoresis artifact in which DNA fragments differing in length by only one nucleotide are unresolved, sometimes observed through a series of consecutive guanine nucleotides.

barophile

(see extremophile)

basal metabolic rate

(= resting metabolic rate (RMR))

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