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Definition

noun

A mutant organism that continuously produces a protein (and therefore may be produced in excess) due to a mutation in the regulatory gene, which is always expressed or impossible to turn off

Supplement

Constitutive mutants are therefore those strains that continuously produce a protein, which in wild type is inducible. An example of constitutive mutant is the strain with lac operon mutation and results in the transcription of the lac genes even if lactose is not present in the medium.

Related term(s):

• constitutive mutation