Regulation of ribosome synthesis in Escherichia coli: Effects of temperature and dilution rate changes

The effect of temperature on the synthesis of ribosome in Escherichia coli K‐12 was investigated. In continuous fermentation, the total and functioning ribosome contents decreased with increasing temperature, while the non‐functioning ribosome content remained unchanged. Cells contained higher amounts of functioning ribosome at lower temperatures to compensate for the decrease in translational activity. A transient study was performed to investigate the dynamic response of the cell to changes in the dilution rate. In response to the dilution rate shift‐up, the cell mass decreased until the cells produced a sufficient amount of ribosomes to support the new higher growth rate. However, the response to the dilution rate shift‐down resulted in an immediate increase in cell mass. This may be due to the fact that the cell already contains enough ribosomes to support a lower growth rate corresponding to the new low dilution rate. Based on the experimental results, a mathematical model was developed to describe the cell growth at transient as well as steady states. The total ribosome content was included as a variable because it affects the growth rate of the cell. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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