Specificity of protein-DNA
interactions
almost all repressor is bound
the size of the genome dilutes the ability of the
repressor to bind to the specific target sites
the amount of protein must be tuned to the size of the
genome and the number of target sites
  K(rep) K(rep+inducer) [target]
   2x1013     2x1010          1
  K(rep) K(rep+inducer) [all DNA]
   2x106     2x106        4x106