Table 1. Optimized parameters of the mathematical Kdp model.

Parameter name	Value			Units	Description
	Wild type	E. coli RH010	E. coli RH010/pKT84
Two-component system
	0.23				Autophosphorylation of D, forward reaction rate constant
	5.1×10−6				Autophosphorylation of D, backward reaction rate constant
	2.27×103				Phosphotransfer to E, forward reaction rate constant
	8.7×10−4				Phosphotransfer to E, backward reaction rate constant
	40.6×10−3				Dephosphorylation of EP by D
	520			mM	Inhibition of autophosphorylation of D by free K+
Transcription
K	4×104	1.2×104	6×104	1	Equilibrium binding constant of σ-factor and RNA polymerase to DNA
KE	5.32×10−2				DNA-binding of free EP, equilibrium dissociation constant
α	2.59×10−3				Affinity factor
ktr	1.06×104				Transcription rate constant
kz	21.74				Transcript degradation rate constant
Translation
ktl1	5.4				Translation rate constant of D
ktl2	162				Translation rate constant of E
ktl3	8.1×103				Translation rate constant of F
kd,F	4.8	11.4	4.8		Degradation rate constant of F
kd	0.2				Degradation rate constant of D and E
Potassium pools
kKdp	7.86×103	0.46×103			K+ uptake rate constant; given that at steady state and cell dry weight is DW = 2.8×10−13 g, one obtains an estimate of ; in the literature we find [56]
KM,Kdp	3.83	4		mM	Half saturation constant of K+ uptake; literature value for Kdp: KM = 2 µM
KI,Kdp	100	0		mM	Inhibition of K+ uptake by free K+
Vmax,Trk	36.5				Maximum velocity of K+ uptake by Trk
KM,Trk	0.1			mM	Half saturation constant of K+ uptake by Trk
Vmax,Ktr	0		400		Maximum velocity of K+ uptake by KtrAB
KM,Ktr	0		5×10−2	mM	Half saturation constant of K+ uptake by KtrAB;
Vmax,lys	1×10−2	2×10−2	1×10−2		Maximum K+ release rate due to cell lysis
KM,lys	150			mM	Half saturation constant of K+ release due to cell lysis
kbind	8				Binding rate constant of free K+
KM,free	250			mM
kdiss	7.81				Dissociation rate constant of bound K+
τ	0	0.35	0	h	“Delay” constant for intracellular K+ exchange
Growth
kμ,1	0.54	0.59	0.54		Maximum growth rate
kμ,2	1.43×10−3	1.52×10−3	1.57×10−3		Carrying capacity, inflection point of growth curve
	6	1	6	1	Determines maximum steepness of growth curve

The experimental data for the wild type, the RH010 mutant and the RH010/pKT84 mutant cannot be reproduced using a single set of parameters. The Table lists the values of each parameter used to describe the dynamics of each strain.