sex factor
Americannoun
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a sex-determining chromosome or gene.
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Also called fertility factor. Also called F factor,. a plasmid in certain bacteria that enables transfer of genetic material from a donor cell to a recipient by conjugation, resulting in recombination.
Etymology
Origin of sex factor
First recorded in 1905–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
First they "fertilized" nitrogen-fixing bacteria with a DNA "sex factor" from the common intestinal bacteria Escherichia coll, a non-nitrogen-fixing species.
From Time Magazine Archive
One of the great discoveries of modern genetics is that certain hereditary characters are linked to the sex factor.
From Time Magazine Archive
On this suggestion each sex is heterozygous for its own sex factor only, and does not contain the factor proper to the opposite sex.
From Mendelism Third Edition by Punnett, Reginald Crundall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
