Figure 1.

Auto-regulatory negative feedback limits protein accumulation. Schematic representation of protein abundance as a function of time after transcriptional induction of a gene that encodes an RBP with auto-regulatory activity. At low protein concentrations, the RBP cannot engage in feedback regulation and protein synthesis ensues (left). After accumulation for a higher protein concentration, negative feedback is triggered: the protein binds to regulatory sequences present in its own mRNA and exerts its auto-regulatory activity (e.g. translational repression, schematically pictured on the right), thus limiting further protein synthesis.