When glucose is present, the lac genes are not fully expressed, even when lactose is present to repress the Lac repressor.
(a) Why does it make biological sense to have the lac operon be sensitive to the presence of glucose? How is this accomplished?
(b) Why does it make biological sense to have the lac operon be under the negative control of the Lac repressor?
When glucose is present, the lac genes are not fully expressed, even when lactose is present to repress the Lac repressor.
(a) Why does it make biological sense to have the lac operon be sensitive to the presence of glucose? How is this accomplished?
(b) Why does it make biological sense to have the lac operon be under the negative control of the Lac repressor?
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1. The lac operon of E. coli controls the expression of genes that code for enzymes involved in lactose metabolism. The operon system is inducible in that it can be âturned onâ by the presence of lactose. Mutations to various regions of the lac operon have been discovered which affect both the control of gene expression and the function of the gene products.
These mutations include:
I - = produces a repressor protein that can not bind to the operator region
I s = produces a repressor protein that can not be removed from the operator region
O C = can not bind a repressor protein
Z - = produces a defective (non-functioning) β-galactosidase enzyme
( I- are recessive to I+; I+ recessive to IS )
Detail the functionality of the lac
operon under the following genetic and cellular conditions.
GENES | Lactose present | Repressed (yes/no) | Constitutive (yes/no) | Inducible (yes/no) |
I + O + Z + | no | |||
I + O C Z + | no | |||
I S O + Z + | yes | |||
I - O + Z + | yes | |||
I S O C Z + | no |