The lactose operon is like a group of genes that help break down lactose, which is a sugar found in milk. And if a bacterium wants to use lactose for energy, it needs to break it down first.
So, if scientists wanted to engineer a bacterium that could triple the digestion of lactose in the operon, they might add or subtract certain parts of the operon to make it more efficient at breaking down lactose. For example, they might add extra copies of genes that are responsible for breaking down lactose, or they might remove parts of the operon that are slowing down the digestion process.
But, like, to be honest, I'm not really sure exactly which parts they would add or subtract. I think it would depend on the specific bacterium they're working with and the specific genes in the lactose operon. And the scientists would need to do a lot of experiments and testing to figure out what works best.
Hope this helps!