The theoretical relations between the induced initiation and accumulation of lac mRNA and its translation are derived, taking the kinetics of repressor–operator dissociation and enzyme maturation into account. These relations are used to evaluate observed data on lac induction and to estimate a number of parameters that characterize the transcription and translation of the β-galactosidase gene in the bacterium Escherichia coli B/r growing at three different rates (0.7–2.1 doublings/h).
