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The lactose operon (lac operon) is an operon required for the transport and metabolism of lactose in E. coli and many other enteric bacteria.Although glucose is the preferred carbon source for most enteric bacteria, the lac operon allows for the effective digestion of lactose when glucose is not available through the activity of β-galactosidase. [1]
The lac operon of the model bacterium Escherichia coli was the first operon to be discovered and provides a typical example of operon function. It consists of three adjacent structural genes, a promoter, a terminator, and an operator. The lac operon is regulated by several factors including the availability of glucose and lactose.
Monod joined the Pasteur Institute in 1943 and Jacob in 1949. The experimental system ultimately used by Jacob and Monod was a common bacterium, E. coli, but the basic regulatory concept (described in the Lac operon article) that was discovered by Jacob and Monod is fundamental to cellular regulation for all organisms.
The lac operon in the prokaryote E. coli consists of genes that produce enzymes to break down lactose. Its operon is an example of a prokaryotic silencer. The three functional genes in this operon are lacZ, lacY, and lacA. [6] The repressor gene, lacI, will produce the repressor protein LacI which is under allosteric regulation.
The lac repressor (LacI) is a DNA-binding protein that inhibits the expression of genes coding for proteins involved in the metabolism of lactose in bacteria. These genes are repressed when lactose is not available to the cell, ensuring that the bacterium only invests energy in the production of machinery necessary for uptake and utilization of ...
It is encoded by the lacY gene in the lac operon. The LacY gene is a component of the lac operon that encodes lactose permease, a protein responsible for breaking down lactose into glucose and galactose, alongside transacetylase and beta galactosidase.
This permits simpler regulation of gene expression, as a single regulatory factor can affect transcription of all associated genes. This is best illustrated by the well-studied lac operon, in which three structural genes (lacZ, lacY, and lacA) are all regulated by a single promoter and a single operator. Prokaryotic structural genes are ...
An example of a cis-acting regulatory sequence is the operator in the lac operon. This DNA sequence is bound by the lac repressor, which, in turn, prevents transcription of the adjacent genes on the same DNA molecule. The lac operator is, thus, considered to "act in cis" on the regulation of the nearby genes.