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Glite Dictionary
positive chemotaxis

positive chemotaxis

7.9
Movement of a cell toward a stronger chemical signal
  • noun
  • /ˈpɒzɪtɪv ˌkiːmoʊˈtæksɪs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : quimiotaxis positiva
  • The immune response relies on positive chemotaxis to guide white blood cells to sites of infection.

Examples

  • Researchers studied how positive chemotaxis enables sperm cells to locate an egg.

  • The bacteria exhibit positive chemotaxis towards glucose.

  • Many bacteria display positive chemotaxis when attracted to nutrients in their environment.

  • Do you know how positive chemotaxis works?

  • Many bacteria display positive chemotaxis when attracted to nutrients in their environment.

  • The immune response relies on positive chemotaxis to guide white blood cells to sites of infection.

  • Researchers studied how positive chemotaxis enables sperm cells to locate an egg.

Antonyms

negative chemotaxis
  • Specialized
7.8

Movement of a cell or small organism away from a chemical

Surface Forms

positive chemotaxis singular
positive chemotaxes plural

Morphology

positive + chemotaxis

This is directly compositional: 'chemotaxis' denotes movement directed by chemical stimuli and 'positive' signals movement toward (an increase in) the stimulus concentration. The adjective-noun scientific pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Positive chemotaxis comes from the idea of tiny cells moving toward a chemical. Chemo means 'chemical' and taxis means 'movement', so imagine bacteria 'smelling' food and swimming toward a stronger scent — positive chemotaxis means 'moving toward' a chemical source.