Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Cell size scaling laws: a unified theory

View ORCID ProfileRomain Rollin, View ORCID ProfileJean-François Joanny, View ORCID ProfilePierre Sens
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.01.502021
Romain Rollin
1Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR168, Paris, France
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Romain Rollin
  • For correspondence: romain.rollin@curie.fr
Jean-François Joanny
1Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR168, Paris, France
2Collège de France, Paris, France
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Jean-François Joanny
Pierre Sens
1Institut Curie, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR168, Paris, France
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Pierre Sens
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

The dimensions and compositions of cells are tightly regulated by active processes. This exquisite control is embodied in the robust scaling laws relating cell size, dry mass, and nuclear size. Despite accumulating experimental evidence, a unified theoretical framework is still lacking. Here, we show that these laws and their breakdown can be explained quantitatively by three simple, yet generic, physical constraints defining altogether the Pump and Leak model (PLM). Based on estimations, we clearly map the PLM coarse-grained parameters with the dominant cellular events they stem from. We propose that dry mass density homeostasis arises from the scaling between proteins and small osmolytes, mainly amino-acids and ions. Our theory predicts this scaling to naturally fail, both at senescence when DNA and RNAs are saturated by RNA polymerases and ribosomes respectively, and at mitotic entry due to the counterion release following histone tail modifications. We further show that nuclear scaling result from osmotic balance at the nuclear envelope (NE) and a large pool of metabolites, which dilutes chromatin counterions that do not scale during growth.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • ↵* romain.rollin{at}curie.fr

  • ↵† jean-francois.joanny{at}college-de-france.fr

  • ↵‡ pierre.sens{at}curie.fr

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted August 03, 2022.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Cell size scaling laws: a unified theory
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Cell size scaling laws: a unified theory
Romain Rollin, Jean-François Joanny, Pierre Sens
bioRxiv 2022.08.01.502021; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.01.502021
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Cell size scaling laws: a unified theory
Romain Rollin, Jean-François Joanny, Pierre Sens
bioRxiv 2022.08.01.502021; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.01.502021

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Biophysics
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4234)
  • Biochemistry (9129)
  • Bioengineering (6782)
  • Bioinformatics (23999)
  • Biophysics (12124)
  • Cancer Biology (9534)
  • Cell Biology (13776)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7635)
  • Ecology (11699)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15509)
  • Genetics (10644)
  • Genomics (14324)
  • Immunology (9480)
  • Microbiology (22836)
  • Molecular Biology (9089)
  • Neuroscience (48987)
  • Paleontology (355)
  • Pathology (1482)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2570)
  • Physiology (3845)
  • Plant Biology (8331)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1471)
  • Synthetic Biology (2296)
  • Systems Biology (6190)
  • Zoology (1301)