secretionor

Secretionor is a term used in speculative biology and some fictional works to denote an entity, organism, or mechanism that produces and releases chemical substances, typically through a secretion pathway. It is not an established scientific term; in published literature, the closest real-world terms are secretor, secretory cell, and secretory systems.

In real biology, secretor refers to an individual who secretes soluble antigens in bodily fluids, particularly ABO antigens, mediated by the FUT2 gene; non-secretors lack these antigens in fluids. Secretory cells are specialized to produce and excrete substances such as enzymes, mucus, hormones, or toxins, via exocytosis or other pathways; examples include goblet cells and pancreatic acinar cells. In microbiology, secretion systems like the Type III or Type VI systems transport effector molecules; these are sometimes described as bacterial secretion mechanisms rather than secretionors.

In fiction or hypothetical science, a secretionor may be imagined as an organism or device that autonomously secretes useful compounds—therapeutics, defense chemicals, or signaling molecules—either as a defense strategy or for intercellular communication. In synthetic biology, researchers might speak of engineered secretionors to describe cells designed to secrete drugs in situ or to modulate environmental chemistry. The term emphasizes function over specific mechanism, and its interpretation depends on context.

Related terms include secretor status, secretory cell, and secretion system.