Localized mRNA translation and protein association

Abstract

Recent direct observations of localization of mRNAs and proteins both in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells can be related to slowdown of diffusion of these species due to macromolecular crowding and their ability to aggregate and form immobile or slowly mobile complexes. Here, a generic kinetic model describing both these factors is presented and comprehensively analyzed. Although the model is non-linear, an accurate self-consistent analytical solution of the corresponding reaction-diffusion equation has been constructed, the types of localized protein distributions have been explicitly shown, and the predicted kinetic regimes of gene expression have been classified.