Translocates

Translocates is the third-person singular present tense of the verb translocate. To translocate means to move something from one place to another, especially within a living organism, a cell, or a defined region of space. The term is used across disciplines to describe dynamic relocation processes.

Etymology: The word derives from Latin translocare, formed from trans- meaning across and locare meaning to place.

In biology, translocates describes movement within organisms. In plants, phloem translocation refers to the movement of sugars and other metabolites from photosynthetic sources to growing or storage tissues. In cells, translocation can describe transport of proteins into organelles such as mitochondria or chloroplasts, and it also appears in the context of translation, where the ribosome translocates along the messenger RNA as it synthesizes a protein.

In genetics, translocation is a structural rearrangement in which segments of chromosomes are relocated; descriptions may state that a chromosome region translocates to a different chromosome or location during cell division or chromosomal abnormality. The verb translocates is often used to describe such movement in prose, though the noun translocation is more common for the event itself.

Usage notes: The term is general and subject to discipline-specific definitions. When referring to movement within cells or organisms, translocates emphasizes a process or action; when referring to the event itself, translocation is the standard noun.