13: Regulation of Gene Expression Flashcards
Module 3, Lesson 2
The process of converting genetic information into a genetic product (usually a protein) is…
Gene expression
Prokaryotes regulate their gene expression to…
Respond to environmental changes
Eukaryotes regulate their gene expression to…
Progress through developmental stages and maintain homeostasis
List the three means by which organisms can regulate gene expression.
- Transcriptional regulation
- Post-transcriptional regulation
- Post-translational regulation
Which method(s) of regulation can only occur in eukaryotes?
Post-transcriptional
because this occurs as mRNA is moved out of the nucleus, which prokaryotes do not have
The first opportunity for cells to control gene expression is…
Transcriptional regulation
The most common form of regulation in cells is…
Transcriptional
Transcriptional regulation depends on…
RNA polymerase interacting with DNA
Transcriptional regulation is controlled by…
Binding proteins
(“transcription factors”)
The ____ contains the binding site for regulatory proteins that affect the cell’s ability to perform transcription.
Promoter
The region of the promoter where RNA polymerase binds to the DNA is the…
Core promoter
Proteins that affect the ablity of RNA polymerase to bind to the promoter or start transcription are…
Regulatory proteins
True or false:
In eukaryotic cells, each gene has its own promoter sequence.
True
True or false:
In prokaryotes, a single promoter can control multiple genes.
True
Regulatory proteins that help recruit RNA polymerase to start transcription are called…
Transcriptional activator proteins
(or simply “activator proteins”)
The process by which a regulatory protein promotes transcription is…
Positive control
A protein that binds to a gene in such a way as to prevent RNA polymerase from binding is called a…
Transcriptional repressor protein
(or simply “repressor protein”)
The process by which a regulatory protein inhibits transcription is…
Negative control
True or false:
Genes can have positive or negative control, but not both.
False
A gene or operon can have positive control, negative control, or both.
A cluster of genes with related functions that are controlled by a single promoter is called a(n)…
Operon
Prokaryotes are able to respond quickly to environmental changes because…
Their genes are organized into operons
List the three regions that an operon may have.
- Core promoter
- Activator binding site
- Operator
The ____ region of an operon is bound by the sigma factor of RNA polymerase.
Core promoter
True or false:
All operons have a core promoter region.
True
The DNA binding site for an activator protein is called the…
Activator binding site
True or false:
All operons have an activator binding site.
False
Only operons that exhibit positive control can have activator binding site(s).
The DNA binding site for a repressor protein is called a(n)…
Operator
True or false:
All operons have an operator.
False
Only operons that exhibit negative control can have operator(s).
In prokaryotes, the proteins needed for lactose metabolism are encoded in the…
lac operon
What type(s) of control does the lac operon exhibit?
Positive and negative
In the lac operon, the CAP activator promotes transcription when…
Lactose is present
In the lac operon, the lac repressor protein inhibits transcription when…
No lactose is present
The lac operon can only perform transcription when…
Lactose is present AND glucose is absent
What happens in a lac operon when both lactose and glucose are present?
The lac repressor is released, but the CAP activator does not bind to the DNA.
because glucose is the cell’s preferred food source
The trp operon contains all the genes needed to produce…
Tryptophan
(an amino acid)
What type(s) of control does the trp operon exhibit?
Negative
The trp operon does not perform transcription when…
Tryptophan is present in the environment
The trp operon performs transcription when…
No tryptophan can be acquired from the environment
How does the trp operon exhibit negative control?
When tryptophan is present, it binds the the trp repressor protein, enabling it to bind to the operator sequence.