TY - JOUR T1 - A Comparison of the Costs and Benefits of Bacterial Gene Expression JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/038851 SP - 038851 AU - Morgan N. Price AU - Kelly M. Wetmore AU - Adam M. Deutschbauer AU - Adam P. Arkin Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/02/07/038851.abstract N2 - We used genome-wide data on protein expression and mutant phenotypes to compare the cost and the benefit of each protein in Escherichia coli K-12 during growth in minimal glucose medium. Proteins that are important for fitness are usually highly expressed, and 95% of these proteins are expressed at above 13 parts per million (ppm). Conversely, proteins that do not measurably benefit the host tend to be weakly expressed, with a median expression of 13 ppm. In aggregate, genes with no detectable benefit account for 31% of protein production, or about 21% if we correct for genetic redundancy. Although some of the apparently unnecessary expression could have subtle benefits in minimal glucose medium, the majority of the burden is due to genes that are important in other conditions. We propose that over 10% of the cell’s protein is allocated to preparation for less favorable conditions. ER -