Gene Regulation -- The Lac Operon

Specific proteins are present in different tissues and some appear only at certain times during
development.
All cells of a higher organism have the full set of genes:
Carrots regenerated from phloem cells in the 1950s
Whole animals can be made from differentiated cells:
Dolly, a sheep created when a nucleus from a mammary gland cell was injected
into an enucleated egg, several species of mammals have been cloned.
Here at TAMU, a bull Second Chance
www.reporternews.com/1999/texas/clone0902.html a cat (CopyCat) and
though not yet successful, the "Missyplicity" project www.missyplicity.com/
clearly show that all the genes are still present in mature cells, even if they are not
transcribed in all tissues.
Regulation can occur at all levels:
multiple genes
promoter efficiency
mRNA stability
translation
post translational modification
protein stability,
Regulation of transcription: is especially effective because
mRNA typically has a short half life (1.8 minutes in E. coli) so stopping mRNA
synthesis leads to rapid changes in protein synthesis.
it takes lots of energy to make mRNAs (and proteins) so making them when they
are not needed is inefficient.
The Lac Operon has to do with the ability of E. coli to utilize the sugar lactose. Lactose is a 12
Carbon sugar made of 2 simpler 6 carbon sugars, glucose and galactose. Glucose is a very
efficient carbon source; it can enter directly into the metabolic paths that provide both energy
and substrates for making more complex compounds. If lactose is provided as the carbon source,
it must first be broken down into the two component sugars before it can be used.
The enzyme for breaking down lactose in E. coli is called -galactosidase. The following
observations demonstrated that the gene that codes for -galactosidase in E. coli is regulated:
E. coli grown in glucose as the sole carbon source have about 3 copies of the enzyme galactosidase/cell.

E. coli grown in lactose as the sole carbon source have about 3,000 copies of the enzyme galactosidase/cell.
The system of regulation seen here is called "induction" since synthesis of the enzyme is "turned
on" only when needed. Induction typically is used to regulate "breakdown" (catabolic) pathways
as opposed to "synthetic" (anobolic) pathways.
Francios Jacob and Jaque Monod won a Nobel prize for their work in describing how the lacoperon functions. They used a genetic approach to address the problem, by identifying mutants
that did not have normal regulation of -galactosidase. We will first look at the model they
derived, and then see how the behavior of mutants led to the model.
The lac-operon is actually a series of adjacent genes and regulatory elements in one small part of
the E. coli circular chromosome.

Lac-Operon components
P

Definitions: P strands for promoter; it is the site where RNA polymerase attaches in order to
transcribe mRNA.
Although all promoters have the same function and share similar sequences that are recognized
by RNA polymerase, they differ enough so that some are very strong (leading to high levels of
transcription) and others are weak (rarely transcribed). Thus, one level of regulating gene
expression comes as a consequence of the strength of the promoter at the beginning of the gene.
The I gene is called a regulator gene; it is transcribed to make a mRNA which is translated to a
repressor protein. There is a termination signal at the end of the I gene.
O stands for Operator; it is a short sequence of bases that acts like a switch that can be
recognized by repressor protein.
Z, Y and A are all "structural genes (genes that code for polypeptides)
Z codes for -galactosidase; Y codes for lactose permease, a protein that functions to actively
bring lactose from outside to cell to the inside, even against a concentration gradient. A codes
for transacetylase, an enzyme that is also needed to breakdown many sugars related to lactose.
One long mRNA is made for the Z, Y and A genes; this is the basis for the system being called
an operon. All 3 genes that code for enzymes needed to use -galactoside molecules as a source
of carbon and energy are adjacent and are coordinately turned on or off by regulating
transcription. Operons are only found in prokaryotes; in eukaryotes, each structural gene has its
own promoter and regulatory elements.

Lac-operon function when only glucose is present; that is when we expect it to be turned off
(numbers indicate steps in the description):

P
1

transciption

mRNA
2 translation

repressor protein
Stepwise: 1. The Promoter for the I gene is always "on", but is very weak, so it is transcribed
only rarely. A gene that is not regulated, other than by the strength of its
promoter, is said to be "constitutive".
2. The I mRNA is translated into a polypeptide; 4 copies make one repressor
protein. A typical cell will have only about 10 copies of this protein.
3. In the absence of lactose, the repressor protein binds to the operator, preventing
transcription from the second promoter. Almost no ZYA mRNA is made. (The
operator is split in 2 parts each with 28 of 35 bases in a palindrome; when the
repressor binds it "folds" the DNA so that the promoter is not accessible).
When only lactose is present the model works as follows:

Stepwise: 1. The Promoter for the I gene occasionally is bound by an RNA polymerase to
initiate transcription.
2. The I mRNA is translated into the repressor protein.
3. Lactose (actually one stereo-isomer called allolactose which is a minor product of
gal'ase function) binds to the repressor very efficiently and converts the
repressor into an inactive state, where it can't bind the Operator. The process is
reversed when all the lactose is digested, so the system again will turn off.
4. When the very strong Promoter for making Z-Y-A mRNA is not blocked, many
copies of the mRNA are made. The small amount of lactose that diffuses in is
able to initiate induction of transcription of the Z-Y-A mRNA. Even as the
message is being made, translation begins and the 3 proteins are made.
5. Translation begins at the 5' end of the mRNA and makes -galactosidase from
the Z gene. There is a stop codon, followed immediately by another AUG start,
so many, but not all, ribosomes read on through and make permease from the Y
gene. The same process allows some A gene product to also be made.
Mutations that define the Lac-Operon model:
Jacob and Monod found mutants that did not show the normal regulation, that is, synthesis of Z,
Y, and A proteins only when lactose was present.
Two kinds of mutants gave constitutive (continuous) synthesis of -galactosidase, permease and
TAase, no matter what carbon source was present
a) Mutants in the I gene (i- or ic) mutants all were mapped (we will take up mapping later in
the course) to a similar location. F'lac strains were used to make recipient cells that were
partial diploids with two copies of the lac-operon. When the copies created heterozyous cells
(I+, I-) normal regulation was observed. This indicated that the I gene codes for something
that can move and interact with the operators of both copies of the lac-operon present in these
cells.

i-

O
O

mRNA

repressor protein

b) Mutants in the promoter that change the base sequence so that it is no longer recognized
by the repressor protein are also constitutive for Z, Y and A expression. In this case
however, the mutation is dominant in partial diploids:

-gal'ase

TA'ase

mRNA

A
A

4 mRNA

transciption

mRNA
2 translation

repressor protein

Since the operator in the upper strand cannot be bound by active repressor, -galactosidase
and TA'ase will always be made. In this cell, permease will show normal regulation since it
is only made by the lower copy of the lac-operon. These results told Jacob and Monod that
the Operator regulated transcription only of gene on the same DNA molecule.
Mutations in the I gene that prevent the repressor protein from interacting with lactose, but
still bind to the operator and permanently turn off all transcription. These are called i
mutations for superrepressors.

The partial diploids told Jacob and Monod that the I gene coded for something that could
move about the cell and interact with any DNA. Now such gene products are referred to as
S

"trans-acting factors". i mutations are an example of a trans-dominant effect.

The operator mutations only prevented transcription from the same DNA strand; thus they
are "cis-elements" and in this case, act as cis-dominant mutations.
Some technical details:
If both glucose and lactose are present, cells use up the glucose before turning on the lacoperon. When energy begins to become limiting, a signal molecule (cAMP = cyclic-AMP)
builds up, binds to a catobolite activating protein (CAP); and the complex in turn binds to a
site between the promoter segments of the lac operon. Binding of the cAMP/CAP complex
opens the promoter for RNA polymerase binding (providing the lac-repressor isn't bound
also).
Mutations in the Z and Y gene can lower the level of allolactose inside the cell and thus
affect regulation. This potentially confusing affect is avoided by using IPTG, an artificial
inducer that can enter the cell and bind repressor protein without functional Z or Y.
Some mutations in Z and Y have a polar effect. For example, a frameshift in Z will also
mean that Y and A won't be made since the ribosomes will remain out-of-phase.
In general, when a trans-acting factor binds to DNA to prevent transcription, the term
"negative regulation" is used. Binding that increases transcription (such as the cAMP/CAP
complex) is called positive regulation.
From this simple model it is easy to see how a cascade of events could lead to complex
regulatory schemes; the product of one reaction could induce the next pathway etc. until
development is accomplished.
Repression of genes in biosynthetic pathways
If we look at the pathway for the synthesis of the amino acid histidine, several levels of
regulation can be seen. Since E. coli cells spend part of their life cycle in a colon, they may well
have plenty of histidine available from digested proteins. On the other hand, if no histidine is
available they can make it "from scratch". The pathway for histidine biosynthesis starts with
ATP+ PRPP and after 11 enzyme catalyzed reaction histidine is made. Given that a bacterium
that wastes the resources and energy used to make histidine when it is not needed would not
compete well in nature, it is not surprising that several levels of regulation have evolved. One
very common mechanism for biosynthetic (anabolic) pathways that is used for fine-tuning the
level of the product is called feedback or end-product inhibition. In end-product inhibition, the
final product of the pathway binds to the first enzyme unique to the pathway to inactivate it, thus
slowing the rate of synthesis. As is the case with lactose interaction with the lac-repressor,
histidine does not bind to the active site of the enzyme but to a different (allosteric site) which

causes the protein to assume an inactive configuration. The reaction is also reversible, so that
when the endproduct concentration becomes low, the enzyme will regain its active conformation.
If there is really an excess of histidine, it would also be costly to make a long mRNA and 11
unneeded enzymes only to shut off the first enzyme. In this case, a system much like the lacoperon takes over. In his case, since the function is to turn off genes when a compound is
present, the model is an example of repression.
P Reg

co-repressor

P O E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 E10 E11

histidine

active corepressor

In the case of the histidine operon,

the regulator gene product is called a corepressor. By itself, it cannot bind
to the Operator unless it is first bound to histidine. Thus, a relatively subtle difference accounts
for regulation in the inducible lac-operon and the repressible his-operon.