Biology key terms

Healthcare selected or adjusted using information about an individual, including genetic information.

An organism that damages crops, stored food or livestock and so reduces agricultural output.

A substance used to kill a pest; pesticides include insecticides and herbicides.

A shallow, circular dish with a lid, used to grow microorganisms on a solid culture medium such as agar.

A technique that follows a mildly radioactive tracer in the body to produce a map related to the activity of different brain regions.

A scale describing how acidic or alkaline a solution is.

A white blood cell that engulfs and destroys pathogens.

The process in which a phagocyte engulfs and digests a pathogen.

The study and use of genomic information to help choose medicines and doses for an individual.

The observable characteristics of an organism, produced through the effects of its genome, its environment and interactions between them.

The relative numbers of offspring predicted to show each characteristic.

Plant transport tissue made of tubes of elongated cells that carries dissolved sugars from leaves to other parts of the plant.

The process in which green plants and algae use light energy to make glucose from carbon dioxide and water, releasing oxygen.

An organism that makes organic food molecules from simple substances using light energy.

A directional growth response to light.

A branching diagram representing a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships.

The evolutionary history and relationships of an organism or group of organisms.

A structure that helps stop pathogens entering the body.

A structure or material that blocks, traps or removes pathogens before they enter body tissues or the blood.

A defence provided by a structure that blocks a pathogen from entering or spreading through an organism.

The condition of the body, including how well it functions and whether physical illness or injury affects it.

A response or activity of a living organism that can be observed or measured, such as heartbeat or breathing.

An antimicrobial substance produced by some plants following infection, particularly in response to bacteria or fungi.

A trillionth of a unit, equal to $10^{-12}$ of that unit.

A small preliminary investigation used to check a method and help select suitable values before the main investigation.

An endocrine gland at the base of the brain that releases several hormones, some of which stimulate other glands to release hormones.

An inactive treatment made to resemble the treatment being tested, used as a comparison in a clinical trial.