chimera

Pronunciation: kī-mēr′ă, ki-

Definition:

1. In experimental embryology, the individual produced by grafting an embryonic part of one animal onto the embryo of another, either of the same or of another species.
2. An organism that has received a transplant of genetically and immunologically different tissue, such as bone marrow.
3. Dizygotic twins that exchange immunologically distinct types of erythrocytes.
4. A protein fusion in which two different proteins are linked through peptide bonds; usually genetically engineered. Chimeric antibodies may have the Fab fragment from one species fused with the Fc fragment from another.
5. Any macromolecule fusion formed by two or more macromolecules from different species or from different genes.

[L. Chimaera, G. Chimaira, mythic monster (lit. a she-goat)]

Search Stedman's Medical Dictionary