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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.
The lacZYA operon houses genes encoding proteins needed for lactose breakdown. [2] The lacI gene codes for a protein called "the repressor" or "the lac repressor", which functions to repressor of the lac operon. [2] The gene lacI is situated immediately upstream of lacZYA but is transcribed from a lacI promoter. [2]
The lac repressor (LacI) operates by a helix-turn-helix motif in its DNA-binding domain, binding base-specifically to the major groove of the operator region of the lac operon, with base contacts also made by residues of symmetry-related alpha helices, the "hinge" helices, which bind deeply in the minor groove. [1]
The first natural gene circuit studied in detail was the lac operon. In studies of diauxic growth of E. coli on two-sugar media, Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob discovered that E.coli preferentially consumes the more easily processed glucose before switching to lactose metabolism. They discovered that the mechanism that controlled the ...
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.
It exhibits an internal two-fold symmetry, relating the N-terminal six helices onto the C-terminal helices. 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 ...
The enzyme's role in the classical E.coli lac operon remains unclear. [1] [3] However, the enzyme's cellular role may be to detoxify non-metabolizable pyranosides by acetylating them and preventing their reentry into the cell. [1] [4]