Spatial organization of bacterial transcription and translation

Significance
Protein synthesis is a mechanism of fundamental importance for life. The molecular components involved in this process are macromolecules called mRNAs and ribosomes. Here, we combine a theoretical and experimental analysis, and show that mRNAs congregate with ribosomes away from the nucleoid, namely at the cell poles. Overall, our model provides an understanding of the role of spatial localization in bacteria, providing potential insights on how such localization mechanisms may be useful to perform specific biological functions.