Schematic overview of workflow for measuring promoter activity dynamics and the analysis testing linear superposition of dynamics in different conditions.

<p>(a) <i>E. coli</i> reporter strains were grown in defined media conditions in 96-well plates and promoter activity – the rate of GFP accumulation per cell – was found as a function of time. (b) Promoter activity dynamics was measured in four conditions and all of their possible pair, triplet and quadruplet combinations. (c) We tested whether the dynamics in a combined condition is a linear combination (weighted average) of the dynamics in each individual condition. We further asked whether the weights sum up to one, signifying a linear superposition. (d) Finally, we asked whether dynamics in triplet and quadruplet conditions can be predicted based on dynamics in pairs of conditions.