vocabulary problem - (Sep/12/2007 )

Hi everybody!

While reading about quorum sensing and other topics about bacteria, I found the word "moiety" (pl. moieties) but I can't catch its meaning.
Could someone help me understand?
Thank you!

ILA

Hi ila

Moiety: An often arbitrary term used to describe some sort of fragment of a molecule, or charged species.

Does that cover it? BTW, if you type define: moiety into google you get a whole list of definitions. I find that feature pretty useful when I am stuck with a word.

Thanks!
Your explanation is clear and the suggestion is priceless (I didn't know that Google function...)!!!

Could that word be also applied a space or something like the cellular environment? I found an explanation like this on the net, but in my case it really couldn't suit the context...

Try looking it up on www.dictionary.com. It gives you many different possible contexts. Generally, it means a part of anything so it could certainly be applied to space or cellular environments.