OPERON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does operon mean? 

• OPERON (noun)
  The noun OPERON has 1 sense:

1. a segment of DNA containing adjacent genes including structural genes and an operator gene and a regulatory gene

  Familiarity information: OPERON used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OPERON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A segment of DNA containing adjacent genes including structural genes and an operator gene and a regulatory gene

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("operon" is a kind of...):

deoxyribonucleic acid; desoxyribonucleic acid; DNA ((biochemistry) a long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix; associated with the transmission of genetic information)

Meronyms (parts of "operon"):

operator gene (a gene that activates the production of messenger RNA by adjacent structural genes)

regulator gene; regulatory gene (a gene that produces a repressor substance that inhibits an operator gene)

 Context examples 

Many of the genes for the three components form operons as in fact observed in many bacterial and archaeal genomes.

(ABC Transporter Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

When the enzyme genes of this pathway are examined in completely sequenced genomes, the reaction steps of three-carbon compounds from glycerone-P to pyruvate form a conserved core module, which is found in almost all organisms and which often corresponds to operon structures in bacterial genomes.

(Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)