The phrase "a step prior" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to an action or stage that occurs before another action or stage in a process.
Example: "Before we can proceed with the project, we need to complete a step prior to the final review."
Alternatives: "a step before" or "an earlier step".
"There's a step prior to that, which is to say, 'I don't think this is right, but I'm really busy doing my stuff,' " he replied.
These findings indicate that activated AMPK exerts a positive impact on the Nrf2-mediated HO-1 induction at a step prior to or at mRNA production.
However, QTL mapping is a step prior to gene definition and QTL region information is roughly defined based on phenotype information.
The conversion of 5-mC to 5-hmC is a step prior to demethylation (Shen et al. 2013; Song et al. 2013) and seems to play a direct role in the regulation of gene expression (Branco et al. 2012).
Strains with the pol2-Y831A mutareon are mutators in a mismatch repair defective background [ 7], suggesting that they are defective in controlling replication fidelity at a step prior to mismatch repair (MMR).
Our findings are consistent with a previous study showing that both NAP1 and SET enhance activated transcription on chromatin templates in vitro, at a step prior to elongation [ 35].
Thus, we have decided, as a first step prior to a formal analysis, to use a random generator in order to choose a subset of start states significantly smaller than the whole state-space and uniformly distributed in this space.
Optimization of the amounts of N and P for a soil biostimulation strategy represents a key step prior to its application to a full-scale process.
The relation keyword can either be a verb or a noun and its recognition is a vital step prior to the extraction of PPI information.
This independent nucleation is a necessary step prior to the progressive development of a definite fibre texture in thicker deposits.
This manuscript deals with a compact setup for photometric determination of chemical species, requiring a heating step prior to measurement.
