Terminator is a set of genes that act as a series of molecular switches.

ECONOMIST: Terminator genes

The medicines work by affecting molecular switches that control the entry of sugar and fat into cells.

FORBES: Magazine Article

This is because of molecular switches that turn parts of the genome on and off depending on what the cell in question is up to.

ECONOMIST: Human genomics

Because it allows precise control of the activation or silencing of genetic traits, Dr Greenland and others are testing their molecular switches on such properties as insect or fungal resistance.

ECONOMIST: Terminator genes

Simon Best, former head of plant science at Zeneca, looks forward to the day when molecular switches might be so sophisticated that the process of infection or drought will itself be enough to turn on a genetically engineered resistance gene.

ECONOMIST: Terminator genes

At the same time, a different set of IBM researchers in Switzerland have discovered a way to make individual molecules act like "switches" without altering the framework of the molecule, which could lead to molecular logic circuits.

ENGADGET: IBM researchers get closer to nanotech hard drives