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morphogen.

Noun
Sci-FiHorrorSettingTechnical
MEANING

A signaling substance that helps organize developing tissue by eliciting different cellular responses at different concentrations.

Use it for

cells receiving positional information; tissue patterning in alien development; a signaling substance distinguished from a complete genetic blueprint

Words that belong together

  • a morphogen gradient
  • a morphogen signal

On the page

The morphogen gradient helped determine where the new structure would form.
In the fiction, a changed morphogen signal redirected the developing appendage.

Related words

developmental patterning signalsignaling molecule (broader)morphogenesis
Word forms
Base
morphogen

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Horror vocabularyScience-fiction vocabulary

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Singular morphogen; plural morphogens. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.

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