The term Boule may refer to:
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Look up boule in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Boule (ancient Greece), plural boulai, an assembly forming part of city governments in Ancient Greece
- Boule (crystal), a block of synthetically produced crystal material
- Boule (gene), an alias for the gene BOLL, responsible for sperm production in animals
- Boule (community), a community of the Ivory Coast, West Africa
- Boule (bread), a round loaf of white (often sourdough) bread, from boule, the French word for 'ball'
- Marcellin Boule (1861–1942), French palaeontologist
- Boules, in full jeu de boules, a collective term for ball games involving metal balls aimed at a smaller target ball
- Boule ton Ellinon, a term for the Hellenic Parliament
- Boule et Bill, a Belgian comic book series, created in 1959
- "Boule de Suif", a 1884 short story by Guy de Maupassant
- "Coup de Boule" (French for "headbutt"), a 2006 French song
- Sigma Pi Phi, a historically black fraternity in the United States
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BOLL
Protein boule-like is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BOLL gene.
Function
This gene belongs to the DAZ gene family required for germ cell development. It encodes an RNA-binding protein which is more similar to Drosophila Boule than to human proteins encoded by genes DAZ (deleted in azoospermia) or DAZL (deleted in azoospermia-like). Loss of this gene function results in the absence of sperm in semen (azoospermia). Histological studies demonstrated that the primary defect is at the meiotic G2 / M transition in fruitfly but in mice the primary defect is postmeiotic at round spermatid stage. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been found for this gene.
The boule-like protein appears to be ubiquitously expressed in males of all animal species, except in the most primitive trichoplax.
References
Further reading
Boule (crystal)
A boule is a single crystal ingot produced by synthetic means. A boule of silicon is the starting material for most of the integrated circuits used today.
In the semiconductor industry, boules can be made by a number of methods, such as the Bridgman technique and the Czochralski process, which result in a cylindrical rod of material.
In the Czochralski process a seed crystal is required to create a larger crystal, or ingot. This seed crystal is dipped into the pure molten silicon and slowly extracted. The molten silicon grows on the seed crystal in a crystalline fashion. As the seed is extracted the silicon solidifies and eventually a large, cylindrical boule is produced.
A semiconductor crystal boule is normally cut with a diamond saw into circular wafers, and each wafer is polished to provide substrates suitable for the fabrication of semiconductor devices on its surface.
The process is also used to create sapphires, which are used for substrates in the production of blue and white LEDs, optical windows in special applications and as the protective covers for watches.
