Abstract
The central dogma indicates the basic direction of gene expression pathways. For activated gene expression, the quantitative relationship between various links from the binding of transcription factors (TFs) to DNA to protein synthesis remains unclear and debated. There is consensus that at a steady state, protein levels are largely determined by the mRNA level. How can we find this steady state? Taking p53 as an example, based on the previously discovered Hill-type equation that characterizes mRNA expression under p53 pulsing, I proved that the same equation can be used to describe the average steady state of target protein expression. Therefore, at steady state, the average fold changes of mRNA and protein expression under TF pulsing were the same. This consensus has been successfully demonstrated. For the p53 target gene BAX, the observed fold changes in mRNA and protein expression were 1.72 and 1.28, respectively; the change in mRNA and protein expression calculated using the Hill-type equation was 1.35. Therefore, using this equation, we can not only fine-tune gene expression, but also predict the proteome from the transcriptome. Furthermore, by introducing two quantitative indicators, we can determine the degree of accumulation and stability of protein expression.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Inserted supplementary material as an appendix into main text;deleted a paragraph and polished the English.
