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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.
Genetic regulatory circuits (also referred to as transcriptional regulatory circuits) is a concept that evolved from the Operon Model discovered by François Jacob and Jacques Monod. [1] [2] [3] They are functional clusters of genes that impact each other's expression through inducible transcription factors and cis-regulatory elements. [4] [5]
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]
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.
[63] [64] The genes in an operon are transcribed as a continuous messenger RNA, referred to as a polycistronic mRNA. The term cistron in this context is equivalent to gene. The transcription of an operon's mRNA is often controlled by a repressor that can occur in an active or inactive state depending on the presence of specific metabolites. [65]
Changes in the regulation of gene networks are a common mechanism for prokaryotic evolution.An example of the effects of different regulatory environments for homologous proteins is the DNA-binding protein OmpR, which is involved in response to osmotic stress in E. coli but is involved in response to acidic environments in the close relative Salmonella Typhimurium.
A structural gene is a gene that codes for any RNA or protein product other than a regulatory factor (i.e. regulatory protein).A term derived from the lac operon, structural genes are typically viewed as those containing sequences of DNA corresponding to the amino acids of a protein that will be produced, as long as said protein does not function to regulate gene expression.
The gal operon is a prokaryotic operon, which encodes enzymes necessary for galactose metabolism. [1] Repression of gene expression for this operon works via binding of repressor molecules to two operators. These repressors dimerize, creating a loop in the DNA.