tre·ha·lose | \ tri-ˈhä-ˌlōs 
, -ˌlōz \
, -ˌlōz \Definition of trehalose
: a crystalline disaccharide C12H22O11 that is found in various organisms (such as fungi and insects), is about half as sweet as sucrose, and is sometimes used as a sweetener in commercially prepared foods
Examples of trehalose in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web When dried out, these teeny crustaceans will fill their cells with a sugar called trehalose that suspends molecules within a glassy matrix, preserving them like fossils in amber.
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Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, "Scientists Pumped Ovarian Tissue Full of Sugar and Microwaved It. Here’s Why," 10 Dec. 2019 Researchers believe this trehalose molecule not only replaces water, but also in some cases can physically constrain the critter's remaining water molecules, keeping them from rapidly expanding when faced with hot and cold temperatures.
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Daisy Hernandez, Popular Mechanics, "Tardigrades Have Landed on the Moon. Here's What Their Survival Could Mean for Humanity.," 7 Aug. 2019 Their process uses pullulan, used in the food industry to extend the shelf life of food, and trehalose, a stabilizing agent.
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Kelsey Piper, Vox, "Vaccines that don’t need refrigeration could save a ton of lives," 5 June 2019 To us, trehalose is an indistinguishable sweetener.
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Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Mysterious explosion of a deadly plague may come down to a sugar in ice cream," 10 Jan. 2018 When the mice drank trehalose-laced water, RT027 killed nearly 80 percent of them.
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Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Mysterious explosion of a deadly plague may come down to a sugar in ice cream," 10 Jan. 2018 Check the label for ingredients like brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, trehalose and/or turbinado sugar.
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Rebecca Drudi, baltimoresun.com, "10 tips from a dietitian," 10 Sep. 2017 Scientists previously believed that tardigrades survive desiccation by using a sugar called trehalose found in other creatures that can complete such a feat, including brine shrimp, yeast and tree frogs.
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Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "How the Remarkable Tardigrade Springs Back to Life after Drying Out," 20 Mar. 2017
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'trehalose.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for trehalose
trehalose
nountre·ha·lose | \ -ˈhäl-ˌōs, -ˌōz \
\Medical Definition of trehalose
: a crystalline disaccharide C12H22O11 stored instead of starch by many fungi and found in the blood of many insects
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Time Traveler for trehalose
The first known use of trehalose was in 1862
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