PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Seel, Anika AU - Padovani, Francesco AU - Finster, Alissa AU - Mayer, Moritz AU - Bureik, Daniela AU - Osman, Christof AU - Klecker, Till AU - Schmoller, Kurt M. TI - Regulation with cell size ensures mitochondrial DNA homeostasis during cell growth AID - 10.1101/2021.12.03.471050 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2021.12.03.471050 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/12/04/2021.12.03.471050.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/12/04/2021.12.03.471050.full AB - To maintain stable DNA concentrations, proliferating cells need to coordinate DNA replication with cell growth. For nuclear DNA, eukaryotic cells achieve this by coupling DNA replication to cell cycle progression, ensuring that DNA is doubled exactly once per cell cycle. By contrast, mitochondrial DNA replication is typically not strictly coupled to the cell cycle, leaving the open question of how cells maintain the correct amount of mitochondrial DNA during cell growth. Here, we show that in budding yeast, mitochondrial DNA copy number increases with cell volume, both in asynchronously cycling populations and during G1 arrest. Our findings suggest that cell-volume-dependent mitochondrial DNA maintenance is achieved through nuclear encoded limiting factors, including the mitochondrial DNA polymerase Mip1 and the packaging factor Abf2, whose amount increases in proportion to cell volume. By directly linking mitochondrial DNA maintenance to nuclear protein synthesis, and thus cell growth, constant mitochondrial DNA concentrations can be robustly maintained without a need for cell-cycle-dependent regulation.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.