Fig. 1.

Minimal model of E. coli. Extracellular sugar is converted to ATP, which powers a two-compartment proteome: RPs and NRPs. In turn, the proteome catalyzes the energy-conversion process and growth of the cell. The black arrows show the ATP fluxes: $m_a{J}_a$ is the influx of sugar conversion to ATP, $m_r{J}_r$ is the flow of ATP to produce ribosomes, $m_p{J}_p$ is the flow of ATP to produce NRPs, $\to \varnothing$ indicates the degradation of NRPs, and λ is the specific growth rate of E. coli.