text: There are several differences in the regulation of metabolic control in eukaryotes and in prokaryotes. Prokaryotes vary the numbers of specific enzymes made in their cells in order to regulate gene expression, which is slow metabolic control, and also regulate enzymatic pathways through mechanisms such as feedback inhibition and allosteric regulation, which is rapid metabolic control. The genes of prokaryotes are grouped together based on similar functions into units called operons which consist of a promoter and an operator.  The operator is the binding site for the repressor and thus has a function equivalent to the silencer region in Eukaryotic DNA. When a repressor protein is bound to the operator, RNA polymerase cannot bind to the promoter to initiate the transcription of the operon.