The lactose (lac) operon in E. coli is an example of a repressed gene when lactose is not available in a cell. In 3-5 sentences explain what this means using correct terminology (4 points)
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Explanation:

Firstly, a repressed gene is a gene whose expression has been inhibited or repressed. The lac operon in E.coli bacteria is a regulatory unit containing structural genes, a single promoter and operator regions. The promoter is the region where the transcription enzyme (RNA polymerase) binds to in order to transcribe the genes in the lac operon. The structural genes in the lac operon can only be expressed in the presence of lactose sugar.

However, in the absence of lactose, LAC REPRESSOR, which is a transcription factor (protein), prevents the binding of RNA polymerase to the PROMOTER region by binding to the OPERATOR region of the lac operon. This inhibits the expression of the lactose genes in the operon.

Note that, the structural genes in the lac operon (lacZ, lacY, lacA) code for proteins that help break down lactose sugar for energy in the E.coli bacteria. Therefore, a bacteria cell with a repressed lac operon will be unable to degrade lactose sugar.

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