Figure 2
From: Gene length as a regulator for ribosome recruitment and protein synthesis: theoretical insights
Sketch of the translation process and models. The three-steps of the translation process (A): initiation (in the model approximated by a one-step process with rate α), elongation and termination (β). In the standard exclusion process (B) particles can enter the beginning of the lattice with a rate α, move from one site to the next one with rate p (provided that it is not occupied by another particle), and then exit on the last site with rate β. In this study we consider a more refined version of the model (C) in which ribosomes cover \(\ell \) sites (codons), advance one site at a time, and the unidimensional lattice is placed in a three-dimensional environment. R represents the end-to-end distance between the 5′and the 3′ region, and a is the radius of the reaction volume for initiation. The dashed grey line represents a possible diffusive trajectory of the ribosomal subunits leaving the transcript and being re-absorbed (recycled) in the reaction volume around the first site of the lattice.
