operator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_(biology)#Operator A regulatory element of an operon to which activators or repressors bind thereby effecting translation of genes in that operon. sequence Moved to transcriptional_cis_regulatory_region (SO:0001055) from gene_group_regulatory_region (SO:0000752) on 11 Feb 2021 when SO:0000752 was merged into SO:0001055. See GitHub Issue #529. operator segment SO:0000057 transcriptional_cis_regulatory_region