Regulation of galactose operon expression: glucose effects and role of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate

Abstract

We studied the following two aspects of the glucose effect on galactose operon expression in Escherichia coli K-12: catabolite repression and inducer exclusion. Using both inducible and constitutive strains and measuring the rate of promoter-proximal enzyme synthesis, we found that the galactose operon did not seem to exhibit catabolite repression. The only glucose effect on galactose operon expression which we observed was inducer exclusion, as shown by the existence of diauxic growth in the presence of glucose and galactose. This diauxie was not relieved by cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate. Cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate did not seem to be an antagonist of any glucose effect on galactose operon expression; its only effect was to stimulate promoter-distal gene expression.