In molecular biology and genetics, to remove repression from a gene, allowing it to be expressed or activated.
From de- (remove) + repress (from Latin reprimere, to press back or hold back). This scientific term emerged in the 1960s as molecular biology discovered how genes are switched on and off by regulatory proteins.
When scientists discovered that genes have 'on/off switches' called repressors, they needed a word for flipping the switch back on—'derepress' is how they describe genes waking up after being silenced!
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