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inversion

inversion

1 8.6
A change where a part of a chromosome breaks, flips, and joins back in reverse
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈvɜrʒən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : inversión cromosómica
  • Researchers found that the inversion of a gene sequence can significantly impact the expression of certain characteristics in the organism.

Examples

  • The study focused on a specific inversion in chromosome 2 that played a crucial role in the development of genetic traits.

  • In support of his position, he points out that gene mutations involve movements, duplications, inversions, and deletions in addition to limited point mutations.

    Academic text (2008)
  • The speech confirms the main movement of the second nucleus as an inversion of the first: Vitoriano, who earlier rejected Placida's advances, now desperately seeks her, while she, lost in hopeless despair, flees from him and the rest of civilization.

    Academic text (1997)
  • This inversion becomes literal when he singles out as a notable human encounter in Narayan's ashram his early morning sight of "a pair of legs staring me in the face": "My roommate was standing on his head, a morning exercise which he assured me is exceedingly good for the circulation of the blood."

    Academic text (1995)
  • The genetic analysis revealed a rare inversion that caused a change in the order of genes on the chromosome.

Synonyms

reversal
vsinversion
25 4.2

A change to the opposite direction or position, for example when wind turns

is a specific genetic mutation that flips a chromosome segment and gene order

Compounds

matrix inversion
  • Specialized
8.6

To find a matrix that, when multiplied by the original, makes the identity matrix

9.9

An old word for someone who behaves in ways usually seen in the other sex

Surface Forms

inversion singular
inversions plural

Morphology

inversion = invert (transparent) = invert + ion

A straightforward nominalization of 'invert' denoting the act or state of reversing; the genetic sense applies this basic meaning to chromosomes.

Etymology

Inversion comes from the Latin invertere, where in- means 'in' and vertere means 'to turn'. In genetics, an inversion is when a piece of a chromosome is cut out and put back in the 'opposite' direction, so the order of genes is turned around.