Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A substance, such as an enzyme, that is capable of destroying the cells or tissues of an organism within which it is produced.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A lysin which will cause the dissolution of cells in the body of the animal in which it is formed. The formation of such bodies is rare. Also autocytolysin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biochemistry Any enzyme that hydrolyses a component of the cell (or tissue) in which it is produced

Etymologies

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Examples

  • PLN remains within the pneumococcus during bacterial growth, but is released when the pathogen autodestructs by expressing autolysin

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Mark C. Dessing et al. 2009

  • Paton JC, Hansman D (1992) Effect of insertional inactivation of the genes encoding pneumolysin and autolysin on the virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3.

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Mark C. Dessing et al. 2009

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