Which of the following statements about the lac repressor is true?

A) The lac repressor is encoded by the lacI gene, which is located within the lac operon
B) The lac repressor is encoded by the lacZ gene, which is located within the lac operon
C) The lac repressor is encoded by the lacZ gene, which is located outside the lac operon
D) The lac repressor is encoded by the lacI gene, which is located outside the lac operon