You are studying the PTS system in E. coli and know that mannitol is one of the sugars brought in by this transport system.  You also know that mtlA plays an important role in mannitol transport and wish to know more about it.

    1. What does mtlA encode?

 

    1. How many domains does mtlA have?  What is the name of each? Where is each domain localized to?

 

    1. Is the mtlA gene ipart of an operon?  If so, what other genes (and their associated functions) are there?

 

    1. Is the expression of these genes (or operon, depending on your answer to the question above) regulated?  Explain.

 

  1. After mannitol enters the cell through this PTS system, what is it modified to?  How is the inorganic molecule transferred to the sugar?