Project description:Cell size varies greatly between cell types, yet within a specific cell type and growth condition, cell size is narrowly distributed. Why maintenance of a cell-type specific cell size is important is not understood. Here we show that growing beyond a certain size has wide-ranging effects on cell physiology. Large cells are defective in gene induction, cell cycle progression and cell signaling. We further show that these defects are caused by the inability of large cells to scale nucleic acid and protein biosynthesis in accordance with cell volume increase, which effectively leads to cytoplasm dilution. Finally, we determine why nucleic acid and protein biosynthesis do not scale with cell volume beyond a certain critical size. DNA becomes limiting. We conclude that the correct DNA to cytoplasm ratio is vital for many perhaps all cellular functions and that the range where this ratio supports optimal cell function is remarkably narrow.
Project description:Cell size varies greatly between cell types, yet within a specific cell type and growth condition, cell size is narrowly distributed. Why maintenance of a cell-type specific cell size is important is not understood. Here we show that growing beyond a certain size has wide-ranging effects on cell physiology. Large cells are defective in gene induction, cell cycle progression and cell signaling. We further show that these defects are caused by the inability of large cells to scale nucleic acid and protein biosynthesis in accordance with cell volume increase, which effectively leads to cytoplasm dilution. Finally, we determine why nucleic acid and protein biosynthesis do not scale with cell volume beyond a certain critical size. DNA becomes limiting. We conclude that the correct DNA to cytoplasm ratio is vital for many perhaps all cellular functions and that the range where this ratio supports optimal cell function is remarkably narrow.
Project description:Proper organelle size is critical for many cell functions. However, how cells sense and control their organelle size remains elusive. Here, we develop a general model to study the size control of mitotic spindles by considering both extrinsic and intrinsic factors, such as the limited number of building blocks of the spindle, the interaction between the spindle and cell boundary, the DNA content, the forces generated by various molecular motors, and the dynamics of microtubules. We show that multiple pairs of chromatids, two centrosomes, and microtubules can self-assemble to form a mitotic spindle robustly. We also show that the boundary-sensing and volume-sensing mechanisms coexist in small cells, but both break down in large cells. Strikingly, we find that the upper limit of spindle length naturally arises from the geometric asymmetry of the spindle structure. Thus, our findings reveal, to our knowledge, a novel intrinsic mechanism that limits the organelle size.
Project description:Compartmentalization is an essential feature of eukaryotic life and is achieved both via membrane-bound organelles, such as mitochondria, and membrane-less biomolecular condensates, such as the nucleolus. Known biomolecular condensates typically exhibit liquid-like properties and are visualized by microscopy on the scale of ~1µm. They have been studied mostly by microscopy, examining select individual proteins. So far, several dozen biomolecular condensates are known, serving a multitude of functions, for example, in the regulation of transcription, RNA processing or signalling and their malfunction can cause diseases. However, it remains unclear to what extent biomolecular condensates are utilized in cellular organization and at what length scale they typically form. Here we examine native cytoplasm from Xenopus egg extract on a global scale with quantitative proteomics, filtration, size exclusion and dilution experiments. These assays reveal that at least 18% of the proteome is organized into mesoscale biomolecular condensates at the scale of ~100nm and appear to be stabilized by RNA or gelation. We confirmed mesoscale sizes via imaging below the diffraction limit by investigating protein permeation into porous substrates with defined pore sizes. Our results show that eukaryotic cytoplasm organizes extensively via biomolecular condensates, but at surprisingly short length scales.
Project description:Microfluidics exploiting the phenomenon of inertial focusing have attracted much attention in the last decade as they provide the means to facilitate the detection and analysis of rare particles of interest in complex fluids such as blood and natural water. Although many interesting applications have been demonstrated, the systems remain difficult to engineer. A recently presented line of the technology, inertial focusing in High Aspect Ratio Curved microfluidics, has the potential to change this and make the benefits of inertial focusing more accessible to the community. In this paper, with experimental evidence and fluid simulations, we provide the two necessary equations to design the systems and successfully focus the targets in a single, stable, and high-quality position. The experiments also revealed an interesting scaling law of the lift force, which we believe provides a valuable insight into the phenomenon of inertial focusing.
Project description:Cellular metabolism relies on just a few redox cofactors. Selective compartmentalization may prevent competition between metabolic reactions requiring the same cofactor. Is such compartmentalization necessary for optimal cell function? Is there an optimal compartment size? Here we probe these fundamental questions using peroxisomal compartmentalization of the last steps of lysine and histidine biosynthesis in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus. We show that compartmentalization of these NAD+ dependent reactions together with a dedicated NADH/NAD+ recycling enzyme supports optimal growth when an increased demand for anabolic reactions taxes cellular redox balance. In turn, compartmentalization constrains the size of individual organelles, with larger peroxisomes accumulating all the required enzymes but unable to support both biosynthetic reactions at the same time. Our reengineering and physiological experiments indicate that compartmentalized biosynthetic reactions are sensitive to the size of the compartment, likely due to scaling-dependent changes within the system, such as enzyme packing density.