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Infect vs Transfect - What's the difference?

infect | transfect |

As verbs the difference between infect and transfect

is that infect is to bring into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen) while transfect is to introduce foreign material into eukaryotic cells.

As an adjective infect

is (obsolete) infected.

infect

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To bring into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen).
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke
    • , title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.}}
  • To make somebody enthusiastic about one's own passion.

    • Antonyms

    * disinfect

    Derived terms

    * infection * infectible

    Related terms

    * infectious

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Infected.
  • * 1602 , , I. iii. 187:
    • And in the imitation of these twain, / Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns / With an imperial voice, many are infect .
    ----

    transfect

    English

    Verb

    (en verb) (transfection)
  • To introduce foreign material into eukaryotic cells.
  • *2000 , Harvey I. Pass, Lung cancer: principles and practice , Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, page 43
  • *:physical means have been developed to transfect DNA into cells