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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 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 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.
Translation is one of the key energy consumers in cells, hence it is strictly regulated. Numerous mechanisms have evolved that control and regulate translation in eukaryotes as well as prokaryotes. Regulation of translation can impact the global rate of protein synthesis which is closely coupled to the metabolic and proliferative state of a cell.
In E. coli, the lacZ gene is the structural gene for β-galactosidase; which is present as part of the inducible system lac operon which is activated in the presence of lactose when glucose level is low. β-Galactosidase synthesis stops when glucose levels are sufficient. [2] β-Galactosidase has many homologues based on similar sequences.
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For example, the ste11 transcript in Schizosaccharomyces pombe has a 2273 nucleotide 5′ UTR [4] while the lac operon in Escherichia coli only has seven nucleotides in its 5′ UTR. [5] The differing sizes are likely due to the complexity of the eukaryotic regulation which the 5′ UTR holds as well as the larger pre-initiation complex that ...