linkage

A series of mechanical parts joined together in such a way as to transmit motive force. The rods and cables which connect an automobile's gas pedal to the throttle on the carburetor or the flow controller of the fuel injection system are a simple example.

The proximity of two or more markers (e.g., genes, RFLP markers) on a chromosome; the closer together the markers are, the lower the probability that they will be separated during DNA repair or replication processes (binary fission in prokaryotes, mitosis or meiosis in eukaryotes), and hence the greater the probability that they will be inherited together.

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From the BioTech Dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/. For further information see the BioTech homenode.

Link"age (?), n.

1.

The act of linking; the state of being linked; also, a system of links.

2. Chem.

Manner of linking or of being linked; -- said of the union of atoms or radicals in the molecule.

3. Geom.

A system of straight lines or bars, fastened together by joins, and having certain of their points fixed in a plane. It is used to describe straight lines and curves in the plane.

 

© Webster 1913.