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germ line

British  

noun

  1. the lineage of cells culminating in the germ cells

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Perhaps, in human culture, and especially in the transmission of ideas through language, we have already created a new germ line, one that transcends individuals and even DNA.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 13, 2025

Genetic drift stems from the chance occurrence that some individuals in the germ line have more offspring than others.

From Textbooks Jun. 9, 2022

The survivors made it into the germ line, so the within-lifetime innovations were passed on to subsequent flowers and pollen.

From Science Magazine Aug. 29, 2019

This is particularly important in the case of germ line editing, because it’s so unlike most conventional therapies.

From Slate Dec. 4, 2018

We’re supposed to do a report on germ line cell mutations in fruit flies instead.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

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