How to Use plasmid in a Sentence

plasmid

noun
  • That means that Buri's genome contains the entire DNA sequence of the plasmid.
    Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 1 Sep. 2019
  • The second portion of the vaccine is a concentrated dose of DNA strands, called a plasmid, that finds its way into cells.
    oregonlive, 31 Mar. 2020
  • In the case of Covid-19, spike proteins are this key information that the plasmid vaccine wants to deliver to the nucleus of a cell.
    Manavi Kapur, Quartz, 23 Aug. 2021
  • At the end of the process, scientists kill and break open the cells, using a purification process that takes about a week and a half to strain out a ring of DNA, called a plasmid, that codes for the spike protein.
    Carolyn Y. Johnson, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Nov. 2020
  • Passing off the plasmid only took a few minutes, the researchers report Thursday in the journal Science.
    Roni Dengler, Discover Magazine, 28 May 2019
  • The cells are subjected to electrical pulses that briefly open holes in their outer membranes, allowing the plasmids to flow in.
    Bradley J. Fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, 31 Jan. 2018
  • But compared to modern African strains, the medieval strain is missing copies of six loci, mostly at a particular site on some plasmids.
    Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2018
  • In only three days over 100 plasmid requests had been distributed by Addgene!
    Sharon Begley, STAT, 6 Nov. 2019
  • Once the plasmid is made, purified, and tested, the double-helix structure of the DNA has to be linearized—literally, made linear.
    Sue Halpern, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2021
  • To obtain appropriate plasmids the foundry’s customers may simply order parts from the library.
    The Economist, 1 Mar. 2018
  • In hindsight, Sonstegard says his team’s only mistake was not properly screening for the plasmid to begin with.
    Popular Science, 7 Aug. 2020
  • The genes that code for the antigen variants are stored on several plasmids, strands of DNA that can replicate or move around separately from the bacteria's chromosome.
    Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2018
  • And when bacteria have acquired resistance to multiple drugs through plasmids, using any of those drugs can increase the spread of all of those resistance factors.
    Uig Via Getty Images, National Geographic, 11 July 2016
  • Each plasmid contains a coronavirus gene, the genetic instructions for a human cell to build coronavirus proteins and trigger an immune response to the virus.
    New York Times, 28 Apr. 2021
  • Recombinetics has since insisted that the leftover plasmid DNA was likely harmless and stressed that this sort of genetic slip-up is not uncommon.
    Popular Science, 7 Aug. 2020
  • The applications for producing large amounts of plasmid DNA are enormous for biopharma and other industries.
    John Cumbers, Forbes, 6 July 2021
  • The researchers found that S. typhi had gained more resistance genes by acquiring a plasmid, a circular piece of DNA, from another bacterium (a process known as horizontal gene transfer).
    The Economist, 26 Apr. 2018
  • So the team instead engineered a plasmid that makes E. coli construct shorter protein fragments that are structured to spontaneously link together inside the bacterium.
    Connie Chang, Scientific American, 12 Nov. 2021
  • And the bacterial bits included a few genes for antibiotic resistance commonly found in plasmids.
    Megan Molteni, WIRED, 26 Aug. 2019
  • When the plasmid in question contains drug-resistant genes, the gonorrheal bacteria acquiring it become resistant to antibiotics, too.
    Aneri Pattani, New York Times, 31 July 2017
  • That included plasmids — little cassette-like pieces of genetic material that different species of bacteria can swap.
    Maggie Fox, NBC News, 16 May 2017
  • The genes comprising a potential circuit are then assembled into circular DNA molecules called plasmids.
    The Economist, 1 Mar. 2018
  • Researchers often create custom plasmids to give bacteria special abilities, like the power to resist antibiotics or a recipe for proteins that no bug would ordinarily produce.
    Aaron Rowe, WIRED, 29 Mar. 2008
  • Worse, the antibiotic-resistant DNA can be carried in little cassettes of genetic material called plasmids that bacteria can slip in their entirety to one another and to other species of bacteria.
    NBC News, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Inovio's technology uses a brief electrical pulse to deliver plasmids, or small pieces of genetic information, into human cells.
    Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, 27 May 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plasmid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: