downstream

:  in the direction a stream is flowing paddling downstream

1:  in the same direction along a molecule of DNA or RNA as that in which transcription and translation take place and toward the end having a hydroxyl group attached to the position labeled 3′ in the terminal nucleotide a nucleotide sequence located downstream from the regulatory gene effects on the expression of downstream genes—compare upstream 1

2:  toward the end of a series of cellular processes :  following a linked molecular event occurring in a sequence But by looking downstream of the tumor suppressors [genes] at the proteins they influence, drug developers hope to find good targets.—Marcia Barinaga, Science, 7 Nov. 1997 The tyrosine kinase activity of phosphorylated EGFR [epidermal growth factor receptor] in cancer cells results in the phosphorylation of downstream proteins that incite cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and inhibition of apoptosis.—Jonathan E. Dowell and John D. Minna, The New England Journal of Medicine, 24 Feb. 2005