Step 1: The tryptophan (trp) operon in E. coli contains five structural genes, trpE, trpD, trpC, trpB and trpA, arranged in sequence and transcribed together as one polycistronic mRNA, encoding the enzymes needed to synthesize tryptophan.
Step 2: trpA is one of these genuine structural genes, encoding a subunit of the enzyme tryptophan synthase, which catalyses one of the final steps of tryptophan biosynthesis.
Step 3: trpK, trpZ and trpY are not real genes of the tryptophan operon, they are simply fabricated names used as distractors here.
Step 4: So the correct answer is trp A.