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uniparental

uniparental

8.2
Something that comes from only one parent
  • adjective
  • Specialized
translation icon : uniparental
  • Cosmides and Tooby (1981) suggested that uniparental transmission is the result of "intragenomic conflict" between organelle genomes of maternal and paternal origin.
  • uniparental inheritance
  • uniparental reproduction

Examples

  • If both come from Mom, it's called uniparental disomy, in the unlikely event anyone cares, the kid gets Prader-Willi syndrome and he's retarded and fat.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The results were highly consistent with our predictions in showing that evolutionary shifts toward precocial young are likely to have preceded changes toward uniparental care (Figure 4b).

    Academic text (2006)
  • (b) Directional evolution of shorebird chick development from semiprecocial (fed by parents) to precocial (self-feeding) and of parental care from full (biparental) to reduced (uniparental).

    Academic text (2006)
  • Research shows that children with uniparental inheritance may exhibit different traits than those with genetic contributions from both parents.

  • The scientist explained how uniparental gene expression can lead to unique characteristics in organisms.

  • In biology, uniparental reproduction is a fascinating process that involves only one parent's genetic material.

Synonyms

unilateral
vsuniparental
  • Specialized
1 7.7

Family line traced through only the mother or the father

is broader and used across fields rather than only in anthropology or biology

Antonyms

biparental
  • Specialized
7.2

Involving both parents in caring for or passing genes to their young

How Many

biparental
  • Specialized
7.2
uniparental
  • Specialized
8.2

Surface Forms

uniparental positive

Morphology

uniparental = parental (transparent) = uni + parent + al

A straightforward productive prefix 'uni-' ('one') attached to 'parental' yields 'relating to one parent'.

Etymology

The word uniparental is made of the prefix uni- meaning 'one', as in unicycle or unique, and parental from 'parent' meaning 'mother' or 'father'. So, uniparental describes something that comes from only one parent.