cytoplasmic determinant

English

Noun

cytoplasmic determinant (plural cytoplasmic determinants)

1. (biology) A substance, present in an egg or blastomere, that determines the fate of those cells that inherit it during cleavage.
   • 1965, Arnold Warren Ravin, The Evolution of Genetics:

     Consequently, in order to learn of a cytoplasmic determinant serving a specific hereditary function, one must detect it in a mutated form.

   • 2000, David G. Drubin, Cell Polarity:

     A cytoplasmic determinant for dorsal axis formation in an early embryo of Xenopus laevis.