EVERYTHING REGARDS TRANSLATION/TRANSCRIPTION What is the cost of making proteins? -ex.

3000 base pair DNA strand -> 3000 nt mRNA -> 1000 amino acid protein 1 ATP equivalent per base 3 ATP equi. per amino acid *Total: 6000 ATP for a single copy of protein from the 3000 base pair DNA sta nd *Cost per second: 20 AA/sec 1000 AA (1 sec/20 AA) = 50 sec 6000 ATP/50 sec = 120 ATP/sec Expressing all genes all the time would be too "expensive" Can a cell turn off genes it doesn't need? YES -Ex. E. coli can use many diff sugars (glucose, lactose, arabinose, etc) as food source *Diff suites of enzymes needed to utilize each of those sugars -Doesn't make sense to make genes for metbolizing lactose if there's no lactose available in the cell Many genes are turned off and on as the needs of the cells change -Expression of these genes are said to be regulated -Adjust metabolism to achieve max growth in a given environment Some gene products are needed at all times, and are therefore not regulated; exp pression of these genes are said to be constitutive (except M-phase when transcription ceases) Where does regulation occur? -Quick answer: does happen at every step An example of genetic regulation in bacteria: the Lactose OPeron (lac operon) in E. coli -Operons are multiple protein-coding regions under control of a single promoter, transcribed as a polycistronic mRNA *Recall that each protein-coding region in the single mRNA molecule has its o wn RBS and stop codon -One of the protein products of the lac operon is an enzyme called beta-galactos idase The lac operon is an example of regulation at the level of transcription initiat ion Expressioin of the lac operon is regulated by lactose and glucose