Figure 1.

Illustration of various types of competition during eukaryotic gene expression. Competition in the nucleus (to the left): multiple promoters along the DNA compete for TFs; TFs bounded to promoters compete for RNAPs and splicing sites along pre-mRNAs compete for spliceosomes. Competition in the cytoplasm (to the right): mRNAs compete for ribosomes, tRNAs compete for free amino acids, charged tRNAs compete for codons at the ribosomal A-site, binding sites along the mRNA compete for RNA binding proteins (RBP) and miRNA binding sites compete for miRNAs. A dashed arrow links the binding site to the resource it demands. (Online version in colour.)