cistron
English edit
Etymology edit
Coined by American molecular biologist Seymour Benzer in 1957, named in the context of using a "cis-trans comparison" for identifying " […] whether two mutants, having similar defects, are indeed defective in the same way."[1]
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Noun edit
cistron (plural cistrons)
- The unit of hereditary material (e.g. DNA) that encodes one protein; sometimes used interchangeably with the word gene.
- Synonym: (sometimes) gene
- 1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 41:
- The butterfly mimicry cluster is a good example. As the cistrons leave one body and enter the next, as they board sperm or egg for the journey into the next generation, they are likely to find that the little vessel contains their close neighbours of the previous voyage, old shipmates with whom they sailed on the long odyssey from the bodies of distant ancestors.
Derived terms edit
References edit
- ^ Seymour Benzer (1957) “The elementary units of heredity”, in McElroy WD, Glass B, editors, The Chemical Basis of Heredity[1], Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins Press, page 71
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Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Noun edit
cistron m (plural cistrons)