ligaturing

Ligaturing is the act of applying a ligature, a material or device used to tie off structures or join pieces together. The term is relatively uncommon; more standard forms include ligation for the act of joining, ligature for the device or method, and to ligate as the verb.

In medicine and surgery, ligaturing is the process of tying off blood vessels or ducts to prevent bleeding or to divide tissue. Common ligature materials include surgical sutures, silk, catgut, or non-absorbable synthetic fibers, as well as clamps or clips. The practice is a fundamental technique in many procedures, from hemostasis to organ removal, and is performed with sterile technique and proper knot-tying.

In molecular biology and genetics, ligaturing typically refers to ligation, the enzymatic joining of DNA fragments by DNA ligase. This allows insertion of a DNA fragment into a vector, joining sticky or blunt ends. Ligation efficiency depends on end compatibility, fragment concentration, and enzyme conditions.

In typography, ligaturing is the process of forming ligatures in type design and typesetting—special characters that combine two or more letters into a single glyph, such as "fi" or "fl." This improves legibility and aesthetics in some fonts and languages.

Notes: The term ligature is common across fields; ligaturing is less frequent and may be seen as a general or informal verb. In scientific writing, ligation and to ligate are more typical; in typography, ligature and to ligature are sometimes used.