In: Biology
Bacterial gene expression (cont):
A. What is an allosteric regulatory molecule?
B. For the trp operon, describe how this repressible operon is regulated
Answer =
A. What is an allosteric regulatory molecule
An allosteric regulatory molecule is an effector molecule which binds to the enzyme at a site other than active site this site is called as allosteric site, changes the enzymes shape, conformation.
B. For the trp operon, describe how this repressible operon is regulated
Tryptophan operon is found in bacteria E.Coli
there are two ways by which tryptophan operon can be regulated these are:
1.Trp repressor = When tryptophan repressor binds to the tryptophan, it blocks the expression of the operon.
when high amount of tryptophan is present then it binds to the repressor molecule which are present in inactive form.
when tryptophan binds to repressor , they become active. and changes their shape.
therefore RNA polymerase will not bind to the DNA , therefore the process of transcription stops here.
2.Attenuation = it is regulation of tryptophan operon when level of tryptophan is high.
attenuation means that premature termination of transcription.
when there is tryptophan is present in higher amount ,attenuation causes RNA polymerase to stop prematurely , during the process of transcription that is when it is transcribing trp operon.
the result of attenuation is that formation of mRNA , which does not encode any enzyme for biosynthesis of tryptophan.