(noun. /kai-MARE-uh/)
by Riya Gohil
What does it mean?
A chimera is an organism that is made up of genetically different cells. An organism is most commonly composed of cells that all have the same genetic material. A chimera, on the other hand, has cells with different genetic material. Chimeras often arise from the fusion of multiple zygotes, or fertilized eggs. Another method of creating a chimera is often done in the lab and consists of isolating cells from an organism, genetically modifying those cells, and reintroducing the cells to the original organism. An example of this method is shown below.
How do I use it in a sentence?
“This mouse is a chimera because it contains its normal cells and a patch of skin cells that we genetically modified to delete a gene.”
At least one accompanying picture
Etymology
The word chimera originated from a Greek mythological monster composed of different animal parts. In Greek mythology, a chimera is often depicted as a creature that has the body and head of a lion, a second head of a goat protruding from the back of the lion’s head, and a tail that ends in a snake’s head.
Fields of study in which this word is commonly used
Genetics