Threshold effect of growth rate on population variability of Escherichia coli cell lengths.

ABSTRACT: A long-standing question in biology is the effect of growth on cell size. Here, we estimate the effect of Escherichia coli growth rate (r) on population cell size distributions by estimating the coefficient of variation of cell lengths (CV_L) from image analysis of fixed cells in DIC microscopy. We find that the CV_L is constant at growth rates less than one division per hour, whereas above this threshold, CV_L increases with an increase in the growth rate. We hypothesize that stochastic inhibition of cell division owing to replication stalling by a RecA-dependent mechanism, combined with the growth rate threshold of multi-fork replication (according to Cooper and Helmstetter), could form the basis of such a threshold effect. We proceed to test o

SUBMITTER: Gangan MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5367290 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature