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Glite Dictionary
restriction fragment

restriction fragment

7.6
A small piece of DNA made by cutting a DNA strand with a special enzyme
  • noun
  • /rɪˈstrɪkʃən ˈfræɡmənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fragmento de restricción
  • After the DNA was cut with a restriction enzyme, the resulting restriction fragments were analyzed in the lab.
  • restriction fragment length polymorphism
  • restriction fragment length
  • RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism)

Examples

  • Useful clones will be those showing polymorphism (i.e., variation in the size of the restriction fragment) between two or more individuals.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The scientist isolated a restriction fragment from the DNA to study its genetic variations.

  • And these are called restriction fragment length polymorphisms.

  • The environmental isolates had the same restriction fragment length polymorphism as the patient isolates from the outbreak.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The dark bars you see are restriction fragments—small sections of dinosaur DNA, broken by enzymes and then analyzed.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Bartlett and Chi were able to restore pressure adaptation in the mutants by using an ompJ restriction fragment, thus proving that ompJ is essential for barophily.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Restriction fragment-length polymorphism typing indicated that the epidemic was caused by a single clone, which multilocus sequence typing identified as sequence type 289.

    Academic text (2012)

  • During the experiment, we observed that each restriction fragment had a distinct size due to the differing cut locations of the enzyme.

Synonyms

fragment
vsrestriction fragment
184 3.2

A small piece broken off something larger

is a specific piece of DNA made by cutting a molecule with an enzyme

How Long

restriction fragment
  • Specialized
7.6
oligonucleotide
  • Specialized
1 9.9

Surface Forms

restriction fragment singular
restriction fragments plural

Morphology

restriction + fragment

This is a specialized molecular-biology term: 'restriction fragment' refers to a piece of DNA produced by cutting with a restriction enzyme. The general B1 senses of 'restriction' (a limit) and 'fragment' (a piece) do not signal enzymatic cutting of DNA, so a learner who only knows the constituent words would not be able to derive the technical meaning.

Etymology

The compound noun restriction fragment comes from a simple image: special proteins act like tiny scissors that make a restriction, or 'a cut', in DNA at certain spots and leave a fragment, a small piece. That's why a restriction fragment means a piece of DNA made when a restriction enzyme cuts the molecule.