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Passive immunity Immunity acquired from receiving
preformed antibodies.
Pathogen Disease-causing organism.
Peptide Two or more amino acids joined by a linkage
called a peptide bond.
Personalized medicine The use of individual molecular
(often genetic) information to prevent disease, choose
medicines and make other critical decisions about
health.
Phagocyte A type of white blood cell that can ingest
invading microorganisms and other foreign material.
See also Macrophage.
Pharmacogenomics The science that examines the
inherited variations in genes that dictate drug
response and explores the ways these variations can
be used to predict whether a patient will have a good
response to a drug, a bad response to a drug, or no
response at all. See also pharmacogenetics.
Pharmacogenetics The study of inherited differences
(variation) in drug metabolism and response. See also
pharmacogenomics.
Phenotype Observable characteristics resulting from
interaction between an organism's genetic makeup
and the environment. Compare Genotype.
Photosynthesis Conversion by plants of light energy into
chemical energy, which is then used to support the
plants’ biological processes.
Phytoremediation The use of plants to clean up pollution.
Plasma The fluid (noncellular) fraction of blood.
Plasmapheresis A technique used to separate useful
factors from blood.
Plasmid A small circular form of DNA that carries certain
genes and is capable of replicating independently in a
host cell.
Pluripotent cells Having the capacity to become any
kind of cell or tissue in the body. Embryonic stem
cells and cells of the inner cell mass are pluripotent.
Adult stem cells are multipotent. The mammalian
embryo (blastocyst trophoblast plus inner cell mass) is
totipotent because it can become an entire organism. Fully differentiated cells from many plants are
totipotent.
Polyclonal Derived from different types of cells.
Polymer A long molecule of repeated subunits.
Polymerase General term for enzymes that carry out the
synthesis of nucleic acids.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) A technique to amplify
a target DNA sequence of nucleotides by several
hundred thousandfold.
Polypeptide Long chain of amino acids joined by peptide
bonds.
Preclinical studies Studies that test a drug on animals
and in other nonhuman test systems. Safety
information from such studies is used to support an
investigational new drug application (IND).
Prokaryote An organism (e.g., bacterium, virus,
cyanobacterium) whose DNA is not enclosed within a
nuclear membrane. Compare Eukaryote.
Promoter A DNA sequence that is located in front of a
gene and controls gene expression. Promoters are
required for binding of RNA polymerase to initiate
transcription.
Prophage Phage nucleic acid that is incorporated into the
host's chromosome but does not cause cell lysis.
Protein A molecule composed of amino acids. There
are many types of proteins, all carrying out different
functions essential for cell growth.
Protein A protein produced by the bacterium
Staphylococcus aureus that specifically binds
antibodies. It is useful in the purification of
monoclonal antibodies.
Proteomics Each cell produces thousands of proteins,
each with a specific function. This collection of
proteins in a cell is known as the proteome, and,
unlike the genome, which is constant irrespective of
cell type, the proteome varies from one cell type to the
next. The science of proteomics attempts to identify
the protein profile of each cell type, assess protein
differences between healthy and diseased cells, and
uncover not only each protein’s specific function but
also how it interacts with other proteins.
Protoplast The cellular material that remains after the
cell wall has been removed from plant and fungal cells.
Pure culture In vitro growth of only one type of
microorganism.
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