Figure 4.

Self-replicator model of bacterial growth, corresponding to the kinetic model of equations (7.1)–(7.4) with three macroreactions describing the conversion of external substrate (S) into metabolic precursors (P) which are used for the synthesis of ribosomes and other components of the gene expression machinery (R) and enzymes making up the metabolic machinery (M) (adapted from [36]). M enables the conversion of external substrates into precursors, while R is responsible for the production of M and R itself. The (auto)catalytic activity of the metabolic machinery and the gene expression machinery thus allows the cell to replicate its protein contents, the major constituent of biomass. Solid arrows represent material flows and dashed arrows regulatory interactions.