scholarly journals Cell size regulation in bacteria

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Amir
Keyword(s):  
Cell Size ◽  
Narrow Range ◽  
Size Control ◽  
Exponential Dependence ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Mother And Daughter ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Initiation Of Dna Replication

Various bacteria such as the canonical gram negative Escherichia coli or the well-studied gram positive Bacillus subtilis divide symmetrically after they approximately double their volume. Their size at division is not constant, but is typically distributed over a narrow range. Here, we propose an analytically tractable model for cell size control, and calculate the cell size and inter-division time distributions, and the correlations between these variables. We suggest ways of extracting the model parameters from experimental data, and show that existing data for E. coli supports partial size control, and a particular explanation: a cell attempts to add a constant volume from the time of initiation of DNA replication to the next initiation event. This hypothesis accounts for the experimentally observed correlations between mother and daughter cells as well as the exponential dependence of size on growth rate.

The expected population size in a cell-size-dependent branching process

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Sudbury
Keyword(s):  
Cell Size ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Branching Process ◽  
Expected Number ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Dependent Growth ◽  
Number Of Cells

In cell-size-dependent growth the probabilistic rate of division of a cell into daughter-cells and the rate of increase of its size depend on its size. In this paper the expected number of cells in the population at time t is calculated for a variety of models, and it is shown that population growths slower and faster than exponential are both possible. When the cell sizes are bounded conditions are given for exponential growth.

scholarly journals Characterizing non-exponential growth and bimodal cell size distributions in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: an analytical approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Jia ◽  
Abhyudai Singh ◽  
Ramon Grima
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Fission Yeast ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Control Strategy ◽  
Size Control ◽  
Birth Size ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Cell Size Distribution ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Cell Size Control

Unlike many single-celled organisms, the growth of fission yeast cells within a cell cycle is not exponential. It is rather characterized by three distinct phases (elongation, septation and fission), each with a different growth rate. Experiments also show that the distribution of cell size in a lineage is often bimodal, unlike the unimodal distributions measured for the bacterium Escherichia coli. Here we construct a detailed stochastic model of cell size dynamics in fission yeast. The theory leads to analytic expressions for the cell size and the birth size distributions, and explains the origin of bimodality seen in experiments. In particular our theory shows that the left peak in the bimodal distribution is associated with cells in the elongation phase while the right peak is due to cells in the septation and fission phases. We show that the size control strategy, the variability in the added size during a cell cycle and the fraction of time spent in each of the three cell growth phases have a strong bearing on the shape of the cell size distribution. Furthermore we infer all the parameters of our model by matching the theoretical cell size and birth size distributions to those from experimental single cell time-course data for seven different growth conditions. Our method provides a much more accurate means of determining the cell size control strategy (timer, adder or sizer) than the standard method based on the slope of the best linear fit between the birth and division sizes. We also show that the variability in added size and the strength of cell size control of fission yeast depend weakly on the temperature but strongly on the culture medium.

scholarly journals A note on noise suppression in cell-size control

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhyudai Singh
Keyword(s):  
Cell Division ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Noise Suppression ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Size Control ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cellular Growth ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Division Rate ◽  
Newborn Size

AbstractDiverse cell types employ mechanisms to maintain size homeostasis and minimize aberrant fluctuations in cell size. It is well known that exponential cellular growth can drive unbounded intercellular variations in cell size, if the timing of cell division is size independent. Hence coupling of division timing to size is an essential feature of size control. We formulate a stochastic model, where exponential cellular growth is coupled with random cell division events, and the rate at which division events occur increases as a power function of cell size. Interestingly, in spite of nonlinearities in the stochastic dynamical model, statistical moments of the newborn cell size can be determined in closed form, providing fundamental limits to suppression of size fluctuations. In particular, formulas reveal that the magnitude of fluctuations in the newborn size is determined by the inverse of the size exponent in the division rate, and this relationship is independent of other model parameters, such as the growth rate. We further expand these results to consider randomness in the partitioning of mother cell size among daughters at the time of division. The sensitivity of newborn size fluctuations to partitioning noise is found to monotonically decrease, and approach a non-zero value, with increasing size exponent in the division rate. Finally, we discuss how our analytical results provide limits on noise control in commonly used models for cell size regulation.

scholarly journals Hybrid systems approach to modeling stochastic dynamics of cell size

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar Augusto Vargas-Garcia ◽  
Abhyudai Singh
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Constant Growth Rate ◽  
Division Rate ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Constant Growth ◽  
Over Time

A ubiquitous feature of all living cells is their growth over time followed by division into two daughter cells. How a population of genetically identical cells maintains size homeostasis, i.e., a narrow distribution of cell size, is an intriguing fundamental problem. We model size using a stochastic hybrid system, where a cell grows exponentially over time and probabilistic division events are triggered at discrete time intervals. Moreover, whenever these events occur, size is randomly partitioned among daughter cells. We first consider a scenario, where a timer (i.e., cell-cycle clock) that measures the time since the last division event regulates cellular growth and the rate of cell division. Analysis reveals that such a timer-driven system cannot achieve size homeostasis, in the sense that, the cell-to-cell size variation grows unboundedly with time. To explore biologically meaningful mechanisms for controlling size we consider three different classes of models: i) a size-dependent growth rate and timer-dependent division rate; ii) a constant growth rate and size-dependent division rate and iii) a constant growth rate and division rate that depends both on the cell size and timer. We show that each of these strategies can potentially achieve bounded intercellular size variation, and derive closed-form expressions for this variation in terms of underlying model parameters. Finally, we discuss how different organisms have adopted the above strategies for maintaining cell size homeostasis.

scholarly journals Initiation of chromosome replication controls both division and replication cycles in E. coli through a double-adder mechanism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Witz ◽  
Erik van Nimwegen ◽  
Thomas Julou
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Cell Cycle Control ◽  
Size Control ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Replication Initiation ◽  
Stochastic Simulations ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractLiving cells proliferate by completing and coordinating two essential cycles, a division cycle that controls cell size, and a DNA replication cycle that controls the number of chromosomal copies in the cell. Despite lacking dedicated cell cycle control regulators such as cyclins in eukaryotes, bacteria such as E. coli manage to tightly coordinate those two cycles across a wide range of growth conditions, including situations where multiple nested rounds of replication progress simultaneously. Various cell cycle models have been proposed to explain this feat, but it has been impossible to validate them so far due to a lack of experimental tools for systematically testing their different predictions. Recently new insights have been gained on the division cycle through the study of the structure of fluctuations in growth, size, and division in individual cells. In particular, it was found that cell size appears to be controlled by an adder mechanism, i.e. the added volume between divisions is held approximately constant and fluctuates independently of growth rate and cell size at birth. However, how replication initiation is regulated and coupled to cell size control remains unclear, mainly due to scarcity of experimental measurements on replication initiation at the single-cell level. Here, we used time-lapse microscopy in combination with microfluidics to directly measure growth, division and replication in thousands of single E. coli cells growing in both slow and fast growth conditions. In order to compare different phenomenological models of the cell cycle, we introduce a statistical framework which assess their ability to capture the correlation structure observed in the experimental data. Using this in combination with stochastic simulations, our data indicate that, instead of thinking of the cell cycle as running from birth to division, the cell cycle is controlled by two adder mechanisms starting at the initiation of replication: the added volume since the last initiation event controls the timing of both the next division event and the next replication initiation event. Interestingly the double-adder mechanism identified in this study has recently been found to explain the more complex cell cycle of mycobacteria, suggesting shared control strategies across species.

A ‘Dynamic Adder Model’ For Cell Size Homeostasis in Dictyostelium Cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahito Tanaka ◽  
Shigehiko Yumura
Keyword(s):  
Cell Surface ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Surface Membrane ◽  
Total Cell ◽  
Membrane Turnover ◽  
Cell Surface Area ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Original Size

Abstract After a cell divides into two daughter cells, the total cell surface area of the daughtercells should increase to the original size to maintain cell size homeostasis in a single cellcycle. Previously, three models have been proposed to explain the regulation of cell sizehomeostasis: sizer, timer, and adder models. Here, we precisely measured the total cellsurface area of Dictyostelium cells in a whole cell cycle by using the agar-overlaymethod, which eliminated the influence of surface membrane reservoirs, such asmicrovilli and membrane winkles. The total cell surface area linearly increased duringinterphase, slightly decreased at the metaphase, and then increased by approximately20% during cytokinesis. From the analysis of the added surface area, we concluded thatthe cell size was regulated by the near-adder model in interphase and by the timer modelin the mitotic phase. The adder model in the interphase is not caused by a simple cellmembrane addition, but is more dynamic due to the rapid cell membrane turnover. Wepropose a ‘dynamic adder model’ to explain cell size homeostasis in the interphase.

scholarly journals Cell size controlled in plants using DNA content as an internal scale

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 372 (6547) ◽  
pp. 1176-1181
Author(s):  
Marco D’Ario ◽  
Rafael Tavares ◽  
Katharina Schiessl ◽  
Bénédicte Desvoyes ◽  
Crisanto Gutierrez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Synthesis ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Dna Content ◽  
Growth Period ◽  
Mitotic Chromosomes ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Asymmetric Divisions ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Size Variability ◽  
Cell Niche

How eukaryotic cells assess and maintain sizes specific for their species and cell type remains unclear. We show that in the Arabidopsis shoot stem cell niche, cell size variability caused by asymmetric divisions is corrected by adjusting the growth period before DNA synthesis. KIP-related protein 4 (KRP4) inhibits progression to DNA synthesis and associates with mitotic chromosomes. The F BOX-LIKE 17 (FBL17) protein removes excess KRP4. Consequently, daughter cells are born with comparable amounts of KRP4. Inhibitor dilution models predicted that KRP4 inherited through chromatin would robustly regulate size, whereas inheritance of excess free KRP4 would disrupt size homeostasis, as confirmed by mutant analyses. We propose that a cell cycle regulator, stabilized by association with mitotic chromosomes, reads DNA content as a cell size–independent scale.

The expected population size in a cell-size-dependent branching process

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Sudbury
Keyword(s):  
Cell Size ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Branching Process ◽  
Expected Number ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Dependent Growth ◽  
Number Of Cells

In cell-size-dependent growth the probabilistic rate of division of a cell into daughter-cells and the rate of increase of its size depend on its size. In this paper the expected number of cells in the population at time t is calculated for a variety of models, and it is shown that population growths slower and faster than exponential are both possible. When the cell sizes are bounded conditions are given for exponential growth.

scholarly journals Constriction rate modulation can drive cell size control and homeostasis inC. crescentus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambroise Lambert ◽  
Aster Vanhecke ◽  
Anna Archetti ◽  
Seamus Holden ◽  
Felix Schaber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Cycle ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Caulobacter Crescentus ◽  
Size Control ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Structured Illumination ◽  
Structured Illumination Microscopy ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Division Site ◽  
Cell Size Control

AbstractRod-shaped bacteria typically grow first via sporadic and dispersed elongation along their lateral walls, then via a combination of zonal elongation and constriction at the division site to form the poles of daughter cells. Although constriction comprises up to half of the cell cycle, its impact on cell size control and homeostasis has rarely been considered. To reveal the roles of cell elongation and constriction in bacterial size regulation during cell division, we captured the shape dynamics ofCaulobacter crescentuswith time-lapse structured illumination microscopy and used molecular markers as cell-cycle landmarks. We perturbed constriction rate using a hyperconstriction mutant or fosfomycin inhibition. We report that constriction rate contributes to both size control and homeostasis, by determining elongation during constriction, and by compensating for variation in pre-constriction elongation on a single-cell basis.

scholarly journals The Sle1 Cell Wall Amidase Controls Daughter Cell Splitting, Cell Size, and β-Lactam Resistance in Community Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Thalsø-Madsen ◽  
Fernando Ruiz Torrubia ◽  
Lijuan Xu ◽  
Andreas Petersen ◽  
Camilla Jensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Cell Separation ◽  
Methicillin Resistant ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Fast Spreading ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Usa300 Clone ◽  
Highly Virulent

SummaryMost clinically relevant methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains have become resistant to β-lactams antibiotics through horizontal acquisition of the mecA gene encoding PBP2a, a peptidoglycan transpeptidase with low affinity for β-lactams. The level of resistance conferred by mecA is, however, strain dependent and the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain poorly understood. We here show that β-lactam resistance correlates to expression of the Sle1 cell wall amidase in the fast spreading and highly virulent community-acquired MRSA USA300 clone. Sle1 is a substrate of the ClpXP protease, and while the high Sle1 levels in cells lacking ClpXP activity confer β-lactam hyper-resistance, USA300 cells lacking Sle1 are as sensitive to β-lactams as cells lacking mecA. This finding prompted us to assess the cellular roles of Sle1 in more detail, and we demonstrate that high Sle1 levels accelerate the onset of daughter cells splitting and decrease cell size. Vice versa, oxacillin decreases the Sle1 level, and imposes a cell-separation defect that is antagonized by high Sle1 levels, suggesting that high Sle1 levels increase tolerance to oxacillin by promoting cell separation. In contrast, increased oxacillin sensitivity of sle1 cells appears linked to a synthetical lethal effect on septum synthesis. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that Sle1 is a key factor in resistance to β-lactam antibiotics in the JE2 USA300 model strain, and that PBP2a is required for expression of Sle1 in JE2 cells exposed to oxacillin.ImportanceThe bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of human disease, and the global spread of S. aureus resistant to β-lactam antibiotics (MRSA) has made treatment increasingly difficult. β-lactams interfere with cross-linking of the bacterial cell wall, however, the killing mechanism of this important class of antibiotics is still not fully understood. Here we provide novel insight into this topic by showing that β-lactam resistance is controlled by the Sle1 cell wall amidase in the fast spreading and highly virulent MRSA USA300 clone. We show that Sle1 high levels accelerate the onset of daughter cells splitting and decrease cell size. Vice versa, oxacillin decreases the Sle1 level, and imposes a cell-separation defect that is antagonized Sle1. The key finding that resistance to β-lactams correlates positively to expression of Sle1 indicates that, in S. aureus, the detrimental effects of β-lactam antibiotics are linked to inhibition of daughter cells splitting.

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