nonself
adjEtymology From non- + self.
1
Immunology, Medicine, Sciences Of nonself origin.
nonself
nounEtymology From non- + self.
1
Human sciences, Philosophy, Psychology, Sciences Any entity other than oneself.
- In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
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Immunology, Medicine, Sciences All agents and substances that are not the body's own.
- In his classic monograph describing the clonal selection theory of the immune response, Burnet (1959) suggested that the immune system distinguishes between self (no antibody response) and nonself (antibody response).1961, George F. Vande Woude, George Klein, Advances in Cancer Research: