Colicross — a teaching programme simulating the action of bacterial operons
A computer program is described which simulates the response of four different types of bacterial operon to the addition of the ligand regulating their expression. The response is recorded as an increase in specific activity of the bacterial culture of an enzyme coded for by the operon under conside...
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| Published in | Biochemistry and molecular biology education Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 216 - 220 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Elsevier Ltd
01.07.2000
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | A computer program is described which simulates the response of four different types of bacterial operon to the addition of the ligand regulating their expression. The response is recorded as an increase in specific activity of the bacterial culture of an enzyme coded for by the operon under consideration. The results are displayed both numerically and graphically. The behaviour of each of 12 different strains of bacteria carrying each operon may be modelled. These 12 strains comprise the wild type and mutants which may be affected in one or all of the regulator gene, the structural gene or its operator or promoter. The response of single strains of bacteria to the addition of ligand may be modelled or the behaviour of hybrid strains formed by the transfer of genetic material from one strain to another can be simulated. The programme challenges students to identify the regulatory mechanism acting in a given operon by analysing the simulated behaviour of the different strains. The programme is available in DOS or Windows 3.1 or 95/97 formats. |
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| ISSN: | 1470-8175 1539-3429 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/S0307-4412(00)00030-3 |