germplasm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the hereditary material of a species or breeding line, especially as transmitted through reproductive cells

   The mutation entered the germplasm and could therefore pass to later generations.

2. 2
   noun

   living genetic resources, such as seeds, tissue, or reproductive material, maintained for breeding, conservation, or research

   The seed bank preserves crop germplasm from drought-tolerant varieties.

Formed from germ + plasm and influenced by German Keimplasma, 'germ plasm,' the term used in August Weismann's nineteenth-century theory of hereditary material in germ cells. Modern agriculture and conservation use germplasm for stored living genetic resources.

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