The trp operon in E. coli contains five genes that produce proteins that are used in the production of the amino acid tryptophan when needed by the cell. When tryptophan levels in the cell are high, tryptophan binds to the trp operon repressor protein, which activates it. The activated repressor then binds to the operator, preventing RNA polymerase from binding and transcribing the operon. However, when tryptophan concentrations in the cell are low, it doesn't bind to the repressor, preventing it from binding to the operator, and allowing transcription until the terminator after the trpA gene is reached. The trp operon is also regulated by the amount of useable trp tRNA present. Upon start of transcription, the leader peptide, encoded by the trpL gene, will begin to be transcribed. Because this peptide contains two trp residues next to each other, and trp is a relatively uncommon amino acid, if there is a low concentration of trp tRNA in the cell, it can cause the leader peptide to stall during transcription. This allows for the section of mRNA immediately after the stalled ribosome to form the anti-termination hairpin. This hairpin prevents the formation of the terminal hairpin that contains a termination sequence that would stop transcription after the leader peptide. Because the anti-termination hairpin is allowed to form, transcription of the rest of the operon can continue. However, when the cell contains a high concentration of trp tRNA, the transcription does not stall, which allows for the formation of the transcription terminator to form before the rest of the genes in the operon, preveinting their transcription. The trpE and trpD genes encode for anthranilate synthase components 1 and 2 respectively. These combine to create anthranilate synthase, which produces anthranilate and pyruvate from chorismate. The trpC gene encodes the tryptophan biosynthesis protein that takes the anthranilate from the previous protein and converts it in two steps to indole-3-glycerol. Finally, the trpB and trpA genes encode for tryptophan beta and alpha subunits respectively. Two of each subunit come together to form tryptophan synthase. This protein then takes the previous compound, as well as a molecule of L-serine, and catalzes their conversion into tryptophan, as well as water and D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate.

Trp Operon References