Cell size is an important adaptive trait that influences nearly all aspects of cellular physiology. Despite extensive characterization of the cell-cycle regulatory network, the molecular mechanisms coupling cell growth to division, and thereby controlling cell size, have remained elusive. Recent work in yeast has reinvigorated the size control field and suggested provocative mechanisms for the ...

Like eukaryotes, bacteria must coordinate division with growth to ensure cells are the appropriate size for a given environmental condition or developmental fate. As single-celled organisms, nutrient availability is one of the strongest influences on bacterial cell size. Classic physiological experiments conducted over four decades ago first demonstrated that cell size is directly correlated wi...

To remain viable, cells have to coordinate cell growth with cell division. In yeast, this occurs at two control points: the boundaries between G1 and S phases, also known as Start, and between G2 and M phases. Theoretically, coordination can be achieved by independent regulation of growth and division, or by participation of surveillance mechanisms in which cell size feeds back into cell-cycle ...

Bacteria proliferate by repetitive cycles of cellular growth and division. The progression into the cell cycle is admitted to be under the control of cell size. However, the molecular basis of this regulation is still unclear. Here I will discuss which mechanisms could allow coupling growth and division by sensing size and transmitting this information to the division machinery. Size sensors co...