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Updated: Oct 11, 2025

RIBO-seq in Bacteria: a Sample Collection and Library Preparation Protocol for NGS Sequencing
Published on: August 7, 2021
An optimal growth law for RNA composition and its partial implementation through ribosomal and tRNA gene locations in
Xiao-Pan Hu1, Martin J Lercher1
1Institute for Computer Science and Department of Biology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Abstract:
The distribution of cellular resources across bacterial proteins has been quantified through phenomenological growth laws. Here, we describe a complementary bacterial growth law for RNA composition, emerging from optimal cellular resource allocation into ribosomes and ternary complexes. The predicted decline of the tRNA/rRNA ratio with growth rate agrees quantitatively with experimental data. Its regulation appears to be implemented in part through chromosomal localization, as rRNA genes are typically closer to the origin of replication than tRNA genes and thus have increasingly higher gene dosage at faster growth. At the highest growth rates in E. coli, the tRNA/rRNA gene dosage ratio based on chromosomal positions is almost identical to the observed and theoretically optimal tRNA/rRNA expression ratio, indicating that the chromosomal arrangement has evolved to favor maximal transcription of both types of genes at this condition.
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