A Tale of Two Repressors

JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

卷:409

Review

Lewis, Mitchell

关键词: operon;    repressors;    allostery;    cooperativity;    gene regulation;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jmb.2011.02.023

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Few proteins have had such a strong impact on a field, as the lac repressor and X repressor have had in Molecular Biology in bacteria. The genes required for lactose utilization are negatively regulated; the lac repressor binds to an upstream operator blocking the transcription of the enzymes necessary for lactose utilization. A similar switch regulates the virus life cycle; X repressor binds to an operator site and blocks transcription of the phage genes necessary for lytic development. It is now 50 years since Jacob and Monod first proposed a model for gene regulation, which survives essentially unchanged in contemporary textbooks. Jacob, F. & Monod, J. (1961). Genetic regulatory mechanisms in the synthesis of proteins. J. Mol. Biol. 3, 318-356. This model provides a cogent depiction of how a set of genes can be coordinately transcribed in response to environmental conditions and regulates metabolic events in the cell. A historical perspective that illustrates the role these two repressor molecules played and their contribution to our understanding of gene regulation is presented. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

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