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• 14 Gene regulation in bacteria

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• How are unregulated genes called?

  Constitutive genes.

• What is an important benefit of gene regulation?

  The encoded proteins are only produced when they are needed, so the cell does not waste energy.

• What are the 3 commonly regulated processes in bacteria?

  1. Metabolism: sugar-metabolizing enzymes are only produced in the cell when those sugars are present.
  2. Response to environmental stress: when the bacterium is confronted with, for example, osmotic shock, certain proteins are produced to help the bacterium survive.
  3. Cell division: certain proteins are only needed when the bacterium divides.

• 14.1 Overview of transcriptional regulation

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• What does transcriptional regulation in most cases involve?

  The binding of a regulatory protein to the DNA to increase or decrease the rate of transcription.

• Which 2 types of regulatory proteins are common?

  - Repressor: binds to DNA and inhibits transcription.
  - Activator: binds to DNA and increases the rate of transcription.

• How is transcriptional regulation by a repressor called?

  Negative control.

• How is transcriptional regulation by an activator called?

  Positive control.

• Besides regulatory proteins, what kind of molecules also play a role in transcriptional regulation?

  Small effector molecules.

• Which 2 kinds of binding sites does a regulatory protein have?

  One for binding to the DNA and one for the binding of a small effector molecule.

• How do small effector molecules cause transcription to increase? And which kind of small effector molecule is involved?

  Inducers are small effector molecules that cause transcription to increase. This can happen in 2 ways:
  - It binds to a repressor, so it cannot bind to the DNA;
  - It binds to an activator, so that it binds to the DNA.