Correlation of the rate of protein synthesis and the third power of the RNA : protein ratio in Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis

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Abstract
In order to further understand the different physiological states of the tubercle bacillus, a frame of reference was sought by first correlating the macromolecular compositions of Escherichia coli with specific growth rates and also with the rates of protein synthesis. Data for DNA : protein : RNA were converted to the average amounts of DNA [mDNA(av)], protein [mp(av)] and RNA [mRNA(av)] per cell. The specific growth rate μ was found to be directly proportional to mRNA(av)/mp(av). The specific protein synthesis rate per average cell [ωp(av)] was shown to be directly proportional to the third power of the ratio mRNA(av)/mp(av) which reflects the ribosome concentration. The equations derived were shown apply to both E. coli (μ=1·73 h−1) and Mycobacterium bovis BCG (μ=0·029 h−1).