Jacob–Monod hypothesis

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Jacob–Monod hypothesis The theory postulated by the French biologists F. Jacob (1920–  ) and J. Monod (1910–76) in 1961 to explain the control of gene expression in bacteria (see operon). Jacob and Monod investigated the expression of the gene that codes for the enzyme β-galactosidase, which breaks down lactose; the operon that regulates lactose metabolism is called the lac operon.