Protein synthesis is an important determinant of microbial growth and response that demands a high amount of metabolic and biosynthetic resources. Despite these costs, microbial species from different taxa and habitats massively synthesize proteins that are not utilized in the conditions they currently experience. Based on resource allocation models, recent studies have begun to reconcile the costs and benefits of these conditionally unutilized proteins (CUPs) in the context of varying environmental conditions. Such massive synthesis of CUPs is crucial to consider in different areas of modern microbiology, from the systematic investigation of cell physiology, via the prediction of evolution in laboratory and natural environments, to the rational design of strains in biotechnology applications.

蛋白质合成是微生物生长和反应的重要决定因素，需要大量的代谢和生物合成资源。尽管存在这些成本，来自不同类群和栖息地的微生物物种仍大量合成在它们目前经历的条件下无法利用的蛋白质。基于资源分配模型，最近的研究已经开始在不同的环境条件下协调这些有条件未利用的蛋白质（CUP）的成本和收益。CUP 的这种大规模合成对于现代微生物学的不同领域至关重要，从细胞生理学的系统研究，到实验室和自然环境中的进化预测，再到生物技术应用中菌株的合理设计。