Quantifying the benefit of a proteome reserve in fluctuating environments

The overexpression of proteins is a major burden for fast-growing bacteria. Paradoxically, recent characterization of the proteome of Escherichia coli found many proteins expressed in excess of what appears to be optimal for exponential growth. Here, we quantitatively investigate the possibility that this overexpression constitutes a strategic reserve kept by starving cells to quickly meet demand upon sudden improvement in growth conditions. For cells exposed to repeated famine-and-feast cycles, we derive a simple relation between the duration of feast and the allocation of the ribosomal protein reserve to maximize the overall gain in biomass during the feast.