A General Model for Toxin-Antitoxin Module Dynamics Can Explain Persister Cell Formation in E. coli
Figure 5
If the toxin translation rate exceeds twice the antitoxin translation rate, free toxin accumulates.
Parameter scans for versus
show the level of the free antitoxin A and the free toxin in the case of independent binding sites on the operator. The response of 200 cells has been averaged after simulating for 500 minutes. In the region [K], indicated in gray, the free toxin level grows continuously to large numbers, corresponding to a non-culturable cell population. The lower panels show the effect of a change in
, keeping
at its normal value (see table 1), on the
∶
ratio and total protein number (
+
). No toxic feedback effects are included:
.