Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 1 March 1974:
Vol. 183. no. 4127, pp. 810 - 816
DOI: 10.1126/science.183.4127.810
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Autogenous Regulation of Gene Expression

The mechanism by which a protein directly controls expression of its own structural gene is described

Robert F. Goldberger 1

1 Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

A new term, autogenous regulation, is used to describe a phenomenon that is not a new discovery but rather is newly appreciated as a mechanism common to a number of systems in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. In this mechanism the product of a structural gene regulates expression of the operon in which that structural gene resides. In many (perhaps all) cases, the regulatory gene product has several functions, since it may act not only as a regulatory protein but also as an enzyme, structural protein, or antibody, for example. In a few cases, this protein is the multimeric allosteric enzyme that catalyzes the first step of a metabolic pathway, gearing together the two most important mechanisms for controlling the biosynthesis of metabolites in bacterial cells—feedback inhibition and repression. Autogenous regulation may provide a mechanism for amplification of gene expression (84); for severe and prolonged inactivation of gene expression (85); for buffering the response of structural genes to changes in the environment (45, 52); and for maintaining a constant intracellular concentration of a protein, independent of cell size or growth rate (86). Thus, autogenous regulation provides the cell with means for accomplishing a number of different regulatory tasks, each suited to better satisfying the needs of the organism for its survival.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Dynamical roles of biological regulatory circuits.
D. Thieffry (2007)
Brief Bioinform
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Autogenous modulation of the Bacillus subtilis sacB-levB-yveA levansucrase operon by the levB transcript.
J.-P. Daguer, T. Geissmann, M.-F. Petit-Glatron, and R. Chambert (2004)
Microbiology 150, 3669-3679
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Quantitative Analysis of GAL Genetic Switch of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Reveals That Nucleocytoplasmic Shuttling of Gal80p Results in a Highly Sensitive Response to Galactose.
M. Verma, P. J. Bhat, and K. V. Venkatesh (2003)
J. Biol. Chem. 278, 48764-48769
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nodulation Gene Regulation in Bradyrhizobium japonicum: a Unique Integration of Global Regulatory Circuits.
J. Loh and G. Stacey (2002)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 69, 10-17
   Full Text »    PDF »
A Simple Gene with a Complex Pattern of Transcription: The Alcohol Dehydrogenase Gene of Drosophila melanogaster.
C. Savakis and M. Ashburner (1985)
Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 50, 505-514
   Abstract »    PDF »
Autoregulation and function of a repressor in bacteriophage lambda.
M Ptashne, K Backman, M. Humayun, A Jeffrey, R Maurer, B Meyer, and R. Sauer (1976)
Science 194, 156-161
   PDF »
Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase is elevated in fibroblasts from patients with the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.
D. Martin Jr and B. Maler (1976)
Science 193, 408-411
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)