Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Genome-wide Quantification of Translation in Budding Yeast by Ribosome Profiling
Published on: December 21, 2017
Emergence of robust growth laws from optimal regulation of ribosome synthesis
Matthew Scott1, Stefan Klumpp2, Eduard M Mateescu3
1Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada mscott@math.uwaterloo.ca.
Abstract:
Bacteria must constantly adapt their growth to changes in nutrient availability; yet despite large-scale changes in protein expression associated with sensing, adaptation, and processing different environmental nutrients, simple growth laws connect the ribosome abundance and the growth rate. Here, we investigate the origin of these growth laws by analyzing the features of ribosomal regulation that coordinate proteome-wide expression changes with cell growth in a variety of nutrient conditions in the model organism Escherichia coli. We identify supply-driven feedforward activation of ribosomal protein synthesis as the key regulatory motif maximizing amino acid flux, and autonomously guiding a cell to achieve optimal growth in different environments. The growth laws emerge naturally from the robust regulatory strategy underlying growth rate control, irrespective of the details of the molecular implementation. The study highlights the interplay between phenomenological modeling and molecular mechanisms in uncovering fundamental operating constraints, with implications for endogenous and synthetic design of microorganisms.
Related Concept Videos
Translational Regulation
Stringent Response in E. coli
Regulation of Expression at Multiple Steps
Ribosome Profiling
Applications of ribosome profiling
Ribosome profiling has many applications, including in vivo monitoring of translation inside a particular organ or tissue type and quantifying new protein synthesis levels.
The technique...
Coordination of Gene Expression Processes in Bacteria
Regulation of Expression Occurs at Multiple Steps
Transcription results in the generation of precursor (pre-mRNA) that consists of both exons and introns, which needs further processing before being translated to a...

