homologous

adj.

1. exhibiting resemblance based on common ancestry (see homology).

2. describing chromosomes that are identical in terms of their visible structure and location of gene segments, although they may carry different alleles. Diploid organisms, such as humans, possess homologous pairs of chromosomes (see autosome) in the nuclei of their body cells. See also recombination.

3. describing any segment of a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) or protein whose sequence of, respectively, bases or amino acids is similar to that of another segment.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

November 18th 2024

co-occurrence

n. a relation between two or more phenomena (objects or events) such that they tend to occur together. For example, thunder co-occurs with lightning, and in English the letter Q typically co-occurs with the letter U. By itself, co-occurrence does not imply a causal link: For co-occurrence to become covariation, there must be a systematic correlation between both the occurrence of the phenomena and their nonoccurrence. —co-occur vb.