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Transformation (Latin, ‘shaping across’), in mathematics, is a type of function. In origin, it is an idea from projective geometry, based on the examples of rotations (which turn a figure about a point without altering the lengths of lines or the angles between them) and translations (which move a figure along a line without altering the lengths of lines or the angles between them). The concept proved important in linear algebra, where linear transformations were developed: transformations which preserve the operations of addition of vectors and multiplication by scalars.
In genetics, a transformation is a change in the genome of a microorganism brought about by the introduction of nucleic acid by physical or chemical means, such as micro-injection of genetic material into the nucleus of an individual cell. Where the same event occurs as a result of a vector, for example a virus, the phenomenon is termed transduction. RB SMcL
See also gene therapy; genetic engineering.Further reading J. Singh, Mathematical Ideas. |
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