In genetics

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

 and biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

, a repressor

Repressor

In molecular genetics, a repressor is a DNA-binding protein that regulates the expression of one or more genes by binding to the operator and blocking the attachment of RNA polymerase to the promoter, thus preventing transcription of the genes. This blocking of expression is called...

 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

 inhibits the activity of an operator gene. By inactivating the repressor, the operator gene becomes active again. This effect is called derepression.

Derepression of ALA synthase

One example is the effect of drugs on the activity of ALA synthase, an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 involved in heme

Heme

A heme or haem is a prosthetic group that consists of an iron atom contained in the center of a large heterocyclic organic ring called a porphyrin. Not all porphyrins contain iron, but a substantial fraction of porphyrin-containing metalloproteins have heme as their prosthetic group; these are...

-synthesis. When inducing for example phenobarbital

Phenobarbital

Phenobarbital or phenobarbitone is a barbiturate, first marketed as Luminal by Friedr. Bayer et comp. It is the most widely used anticonvulsant worldwide, and the oldest still commonly used. It also has sedative and hypnotic properties but, as with other barbiturates, has been superseded by the...

, griseofulvin

Griseofulvin

Griseofulvin is an antifungal drug that is administered orally. It is used both in animals and in humans, to treat fungal infections of the skin and nails...

 or hydantoins, the activity of ALA synthase will rise. The cause is a production of cytochrome P450-production, induced by the drugs, consuming heme. When the amount of heme in the liver decreases, it no longer act as a repressor for its synthesis. On the contrary, ALA synthase increases which leads to an increase in heme-production.