1. relating to or denoting genes that are located on the same chromosome and can be inherited together as a unit
Usage: genetics; molecular biology; technical

Examples

• Cistronic genes are inherited as a linked group because they occupy adjacent positions on the same DNA molecule.
• The researchers identified two cistronic loci that were always transmitted together in the offspring.
• In bacterial operons, multiple cistronic genes can be transcribed from a single promoter.
• The cistronic arrangement of these genes explains why mutations in one often correlate with mutations in the other.