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The existence of repressors, as pre-existing chemicals tailored to both products (inducers) and their production mechanism (operons), are fascinating -- it seems that a molecule would be special if such an intricate chemical mechanism evolved to regulate it. Other than lactose, the example I'm familiar with, for which types of molecules do repressors exist?

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This is a huge question, even if you restrict the answer to a single bacterial species such as E coli whose regulatory genetics is codified at regulondb.ccg.unam.mx/index.jsp. Just to get you started, the other classic example of a repressor which has been extensively studied is the Trp repressor, trpR. Like the lac operon, the trp operon has its own Wikipedia page en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trp_operon – Alan Boyd Oct 30 '12 at 11:49
Any DNA-binding protein that negatively regulates gene expression is called repressor. What the OP is probably looking for is feedback loops involving repressors. – rwst Oct 30 '12 at 12:00
This question would just result in a huge list of possible answers, such questions don't work well in a Q&A format. As already mentioned, there are a lot of repressors. – Mad Scientist♦ Oct 30 '12 at 13:32
I don't agree. With the Gene Ontology, getting a list of such feedback loops appeared possible to me, even as it later turned out to be not so. Such queries on databases are perfect answers to such questions, as well as a good review on the subject. – rwst Oct 30 '12 at 14:53

closed as not a real question by Mad Scientist♦ Oct 30 '12 at 13:31

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