Economy of operon formation: cotranscription minimizes shortfall in protein complexes

TY - JOUR

T1 - Economy of operon formation

T2 - cotranscription minimizes shortfall in protein complexes

AU - Sneppen, Kim

AU - Pedersen, Steen

AU - Krishna, Sandeep

AU - Dodd, Ian Burwell

AU - Semsey, Szabolcs

PY - 2010/9/21

Y1 - 2010/9/21

N2 - Genes of prokaryotes and Archaea are often organized in cotranscribed groups, or operons. In contrast, eukaryotic genes are generally transcribed independently. Here we show that there is a substantial economic gain for the cell to cotranscribe genes encoding protein complexes because it synchronizes the fluctuations, or noise, in the levels of the different components. This correlation substantially reduces the shortfall in production of the complex. This benefit is relatively large in small cells such as bacterial cells, in which there are few mRNAs and proteins per cell, and is diminished in larger cells such as eukaryotic cells.

AB - Genes of prokaryotes and Archaea are often organized in cotranscribed groups, or operons. In contrast, eukaryotic genes are generally transcribed independently. Here we show that there is a substantial economic gain for the cell to cotranscribe genes encoding protein complexes because it synchronizes the fluctuations, or noise, in the levels of the different components. This correlation substantially reduces the shortfall in production of the complex. This benefit is relatively large in small cells such as bacterial cells, in which there are few mRNAs and proteins per cell, and is diminished in larger cells such as eukaryotic cells.

U2 - 10.1128/mBio.00177-10

DO - 10.1128/mBio.00177-10

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 20877578

SN - 1558-7452

VL - 1

SP - e00177-10

JO - Microbe

JF - Microbe

IS - 4

ER -