Abstract
In an asynchronous, exponentially proliferating cell culture there is a great deal of variability among individual cells in size at birth, size at division and generation time (= age at division). To account for this variability we assume that individual cells grow according to some given growth law and that, after reaching a minimum size, they divide with a certain probability (per unit time) which increases with increasing cell size. This model is called sloppy size control because cell division is assumed to be a random process with size-dependent probability. We derive general equations for the distribution of cell size at division, the distribution of generation time, and the correlations between generation times of closely related cells. Our theoretical results are compared in detail with experimental results (obtained by Miyata and coworkers) for cell division in fission yeast, Schizosac-charomyces pombe. The agreement between theory and experiment is superior to that found for any other simple models of the coordination of cell growth and division.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 405-426 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
| Volume | 118 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Feb 1986 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was initiated while JJT was a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Mathematical Biology, Oxford University, England, during Trinity term, 1984. JJT thanks Professor J. D. Murray for the opportunity to work to the Centre. We also are deeply grateful to Professor H. Miyata for supplying us with the experimental data used to calculate the beta curve and the generation-time correlation coefficients for the fission yeast culture. This work was supported in part by grants from the Science and Engineering Research Council (Great Britain) GR/C/63695 to the Centre for Mathematical Biology, the National Science Foundation (USA) MCS-8301104 to JJT and the National Institutes of Health (USA) GM-27629 to JJT.
Funding
This work was initiated while JJT was a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Mathematical Biology, Oxford University, England, during Trinity term, 1984. JJT thanks Professor J. D. Murray for the opportunity to work to the Centre. We also are deeply grateful to Professor H. Miyata for supplying us with the experimental data used to calculate the beta curve and the generation-time correlation coefficients for the fission yeast culture. This work was supported in part by grants from the Science and Engineering Research Council (Great Britain) GR/C/63695 to the Centre for Mathematical Biology, the National Science Foundation (USA) MCS-8301104 to JJT and the National Institutes of Health (USA) GM-27629 to JJT.