Problem 1.4: Activators vs. repressors

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This problem is still a draft.

We discussed regulation by activators and by repressors and presented two possible arguments as to why high-demand genes tend to be more frequently regulated by activators and low-demand genes by repressors. Savageau posited a “use-it-or-lose-it” rule of evolutionary selection. Shinar proposed a different explanation, that preventing DNA from being naked and therefore inadvertantly activated avoids a fitness cost of producing “unintentional” gene products.

Can you devise an experimental way to discriminate among these potential explanations?