cistron

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cistron

Where it comes from

Coined by American molecular biologist Seymour Benzer in 1957, from cis + trans + -on. 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."

noun cistrons

The unit of hereditary material (e.g. DNA) that encodes one protein. Holonym: locus
Similar: gene

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MLA

"cistron." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cistron. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cistron. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cistron

Chicago

"cistron." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cistron.

BibTeX

@misc{cistron_2026,
  title = {cistron},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cistron},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}