See Also: discoidin(medicine)

amphipod (iou) and discoidin (medicine)


amphipod (iou)



amphipod noun & adjective. M19.
[from mod. Latin amphipoda (sc. animalia), from Greek AMPHI- + -POD.]
(A crustacean) of the largely marine order Amphipoda, members of which, e.g. sand-hoppers, have seven pairs of thoracic legs, some specialized for feeding and others for swimming. Cf. ISOPOD.

discoidin (medicine)


discoidin
<protein> A lectin, isolated from the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum, that has a binding site for carbohydrate residues related to galactose. The lectin, that consists of two distinct species (discoidins I and II), is synthesised as the cells differentiate from vegetative to aggregation phase and was originally thought to be involved in intercellular adhesion, but discoidin I is now thought to be involved in adhesion to the substratum by a mechanism resembling that of fibronectin in animals.