L-arabinose operon

The L-arabinose operon, also called the ara or araBAD operon''', is an operon required for the breakdown of the five-carbon sugar L-arabinose in Escherichia coli. The L-arabinose operon contains three structural genes: araB, araA, araD (collectively known as araBAD), which encode for three metabolic enzymes that are required for the metabolism of L-arabinose. AraB (ribulokinase), AraA (an isomerase), AraD (an epimerase) produced by these genes catalyse conversion of L-arabinose to an intermediate of the pentose phosphate pathway, D-xylulose-5-phosphate. The structural genes of the L-arabinose operon are transcribed from a common promoter into a single transcript, a mRNA. The expression of the L-arabinose operon is controlled as a single unit by the product of regulatory gene araC and the catabolite activator protein (CAP)-cAMP complex. The regulator protein AraC is sensitive to the level of arabinose and plays a dual role as both an activator in the presence of arabinose and a repressor in the absence of arabinose to regulate the expression of araBAD. AraC protein not only controls the expression of araBAD but also auto-regulates its own expression at high AraC levels. L-arabinose operon is composed of structural genes and regulatory regions including the operator region (araO1, araO2) and the initiator region (araI1, araI2). The structural genes, araB, araA and araD, encode enzymes for L-arabinose catabolism. There is also a CAP binding site where CAP-cAMP complex binds to and facilitates catabolite repression, and results in positive regulation of araBAD when the cell is starved of glucose. The regulatory gene, araC, is located upstream of the L-arabinose operon and encodes the arabinose-responsive regulatory protein AraC. Both araC and araBAD have a discrete promoter where RNA polymerase binds and initiates transcription. araBAD and araC are transcribed in opposite directions from the araBAD promoter (PBAD) and araC promoter (PC) respectively. araA encodes L-arabinose isomerase, which catalyses isomerization between L-arabinose and L-ribulose.

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In molecular biology, an inducer is a molecule that regulates gene expression. An inducer functions in two ways; namely: By disabling repressors. The gene is expressed because an inducer binds to the repressor. The binding of the inducer to the repressor prevents the repressor from binding to the operator. RNA polymerase can then begin to transcribe operon genes. By binding to activators. Activators generally bind poorly to activator DNA sequences unless an inducer is present.

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