In a typical problem, a gene regulation system is described, with one or more regulatory proteins and non-protein effectors. Students summarize how the system works in a sentence and then reason about the effects of mutations on gene expression.

In each problem students design a experiments in which they manipulate chromosomal genotype, plasmid genotype and effectors to determine (a) if a regulatory system is inducible or repressible, (b) whether it is a positive or negative regulatory system, and (c) the role of three genes in the system, to the extent possible.