BIS 2A Lecture Notes - Lac Operon, Operon, Catabolite Activator Protein

1. What is the term when the product of a biochemical pathway inhibits the activity of the first enzyme of a pathway?

2. Through control of gene expression, prokaryotes respond to changing __________ conditions.

3. A protein that negatively regulates transcription by binding to the operator is known as the

4. During attenutation, when tryptophan levels are high, the ________ stem-loop forms and transcription ________ the trpL gene.

5. The process of turning on the expression of a gene in response to a substance in the environment is called:

6. What is a function of some specific transcription factors?

7. How does exposing an E.coli cell to glucose affect the regulation of the lac operon via CAP?

8. The lac repressor protein works when mutations in the repressor gene and structural genes are:

5. Alpha amanitin is a drug that binds RNA polymerase andprevents it from functioning in the cell (this is the compound thatis found in poison mushrooms). The reason people die when theyconsume alpha amanitin is:

a) Alpha amanitin prevents gene expression from occurring in thecell

b) DNA replication is directly inhibited by alpha amantin

c) Alpha amanitin binds tightly to the messenger RNAs that aremade in the cell, preventing translation

d) Alpha amanitin binds to nuclear pores preventing thetransport of messenger RNA into the cytoplasm

6. In order for transcriptional initiation to begin in E. colithe following elements are needed:

a) an origin and RNA polymerase

b) initiator protein and a promoter

c) the sigma subunit of RNA polymerase and an RNA template

d) RNA polymerase and a promoter

e) helicase and primase

Questions 7 and 8. You are studying two species of closelyrelated snakes, one species lives in sandy desert area and has paletan skin and the species lives in a volcanic rock area and has darkbrown skin. You a sequence the DNA from each type of snake anddiscover a gene encoding a protein that transports pigment into theskin cells. The pigment transporter protein is responsible for skincolor. When you analyze the DNA coding sequence of the pigmenttransporter from each snake you find these two DNA sequences (hashmarks have been added to indicate the reading frame):

pale tan snake: GCG/TTG/GAC/TGC/ACC (DNA template strand)CGC/AAC/CTG/ACG/TGG (complementary strand) dark brown snake:ACG/TTG/GAC/TGC/ACC (DNA template strand) TGC/AAC/CTG/ACG/TGG(complementary strand)

7. From these sequences you conclude:

a) that the amino acid sequence of the pigment transporters forthe two proteins are almost identical

b) that the amino acid sequence of the pigment transporters forthe two proteins are very dissimilar

c) that the amino acid sequence of the pigment transporters forthe two proteins are identical

8. Since the skin color is different in each snake, you concludefrom the sequence data above that:

a) the genetic code in the skin cells in each of these snakes isdifferent

b) the DNA sequence encoding the entire gene for pigmenttransporters in these two snakes is different

c) that one of the codons in the gene for the pigmenttransporter in these two snakes is different

9. You are analyzing eukaryotic cells that have been exposed tothe radioactive uracil. In most cells the radioactive uracil isinitially localized in the nucleus and then moves from the nucleusto the cytoplasm. However, you observe that in some cells theradioactive molecules stay in the nucleus and never arrive in thecytoplasm. This is most likely a defect in:

a) the transcription of the DNA

b) the processing of the mRNA

c) the translation of the RNA

d) the labeling of the RNA

e) the replication of the DNA

10. Which of the following is true of both eukaryotic andbacterial transcription? (select all that are true)
a) Transcription factors must bind the promoter before RNApolymerase initiates transcription

b) Messenger RNAs must be spliced before translation begins inorder to produce the appropriate gene product

c) During transcription only one DNA strand is used as atemplate to make the messenger RNA

d) Termination of transcription occurs when the RNA polymerasetranscribes a hairpin structure in the RNA followed by a string ofU

For this question, focus on four parts:

I, the gene that produces the repressor protein;

P, the promoter region where RNA polymerase binds to initiate transcription;

O, the Operator site, where the repressor binds. When the repressor binds, it prevents transcription; and

ZYA, the three structural genes, all of which are required for the successful utilization of lactose as a food source.

In the left column of the table below, we indicate the genetic composition at the lac operon of particular strains of E. coli cells. A "+" (plus sign) following the letter indicates the wild-type allele (or normally functioning version of the gene). For I, P, and ZYA, a "-" (negative sign) following the letter indicates the mutant allele (or non-functional version of the gene). For the O allele, a "C" indicates the mutant or constitutive allele. It is not functional in that the repressor cannot bind, but it is functional in that transcription can still occur.

Given the conditions stated in each column, please indicate for each genotype whether lac mRNA is produced and at what level by typing in one of the following words in each cell in the table:

"Abundant"

"Minimal"

"None"

The completely wild-type genotype has already been filled in.