👉 The "Smothphorian" is a term used in the field of molecular biology to describe a protein that regulates the expression of certain genes. The term comes from the Greek words for smoother and pheromone, which are related to the chemical compounds that can influence the behavior of an organism. The Smothphorins play a crucial role in regulating gene expression by binding specifically to specific DNA sequences, which then trigger changes in gene expression. In other words, the Smothphorian