Question

The maltose operon contains genes that code for proteins that catabolize the disaccharide maltose. Similar to the Lac operon, which is only efficiently transcribed in the presence of lactose, the maltose operon is only efficiently transcribed in the presence of maltose. How might induction of the maltose operon in response to maltose be achieved

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

The maltose operon will be only efficiently transcribed if two things happen simultaneously: if there is a certain concentration of maltose in the medium, and if glucose is not present. If glucose is present, the microorganism will use it first since is more accessible than maltose, and easily metabolized.

The maltose operon is activated by induction. The promotor in this operon has a sequence that does not match exactly the consensus sequence. Therefore, even with the correct sigma factor, the RNA polymerase does not easily recognize this promotor. The function of the activator protein is to help the RNA polymerase recognize the promotor and start the transcription.