Caenorhabditis elegans operons: Form and function

Abstract

Nematodes are unusual among animals in having a substantial proportion of their genes arranged in polycistronic clusters that are similar to bacterial operons. Recently, a nearly complete database of the Caenorhabditis elegans genes that are transcribed in operons has been produced. Analysis of this database has identified the types of genes that are contained in the operons and the extent to which operons co-regulate genes of related function.