EFFECTOR

Effector

In biochemistry, an effector molecule is usually a small molecule that selectively binds to a protein and regulates its biological activity. In this manner, effector molecules act as ligands that can increase or decrease enzyme activity, gene expression, or cell signalling. Effector molecules can also directly regulate the activity of some mRNA molecules .

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effector

Noun

  1. Any muscle, organ etc. that can respond to a stimulus from a nerve.
  2. The part of a nerve that carries a stimulus to a muscle etc.
  3. Any small molecule that effects the function of an enzyme by binding to an allosteric site.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: effector
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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