Shaping bacterial gene expression by physiological and proteome allocation constraints

Networks of molecular regulators are often the primary objects of focus in the study of gene regulation, with the machinery of protein synthesis tacitly relegated to the background. Shifting focus to the constraints imposed by the allocation of protein synthesis flux reveals surprising ways in which the actions of molecular regulators are shaped by physiological demands. Using carbon catabolite repression as a case study, we describe how physiological constraints are sensed through metabolic fluxes and how flux-controlled regulation gives rise to simple empirical relations between protein levels and the rate of cell growth. In this Review, Scott and Hwa describe how physiological constraints are sensed through metabolic fluxes and how flux-controlled regulation gives rise to simple empirical relations between protein levels and the rate of cell growth.