A noisy linear map underlies oscillations in cell size and gene expression in bacteria.

Tanouchi, Yu

Pai, Anand

Park, Heungwon

Huang, Shuqiang

Stamatov, Rumen

Buchler, Nicolas E

You, Lingchong

England

2015-10-29T19:53:34Z

2015-07-16

During bacterial growth, a cell approximately doubles in size before division, after which it splits into two daughter cells. This process is subjected to the inherent perturbations of cellular noise and thus requires regulation for cell-size homeostasis. The mechanisms underlying the control and dynamics of cell size remain poorly understood owing to the difficulty in sizing individual bacteria over long periods of time in a high-throughput manner. Here we measure and analyse long-term, single-cell growth and division across different Escherichia coli strains and growth conditions. We show that a subset of cells in a population exhibit transient oscillations in cell size with periods that stretch across several (more than ten) generations. Our analysis reveals that a simple law governing cell-size control-a noisy linear map-explains the origins of these cell-size oscillations across all strains. This noisy linear map implements a negative feedback on cell-size control: a cell with a larger initial size tends to divide earlier, whereas one with a smaller initial size tends to divide later. Combining simulations of cell growth and division with experimental data, we demonstrate that this noisy linear map generates transient oscillations, not just in cell size, but also in constitutive gene expression. Our work provides new insights into the dynamics of bacterial cell-size regulation with implications for the physiological processes involved.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26040722

nature14562

1476-4687

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10801

eng

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Nature

10.1038/nature14562

Cell Division

Cell Size

Computer Simulation

Escherichia coli

Feedback, Physiological

Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial

Homeostasis

Models, Biological

Single-Cell Analysis

Time Factors

A noisy linear map underlies oscillations in cell size and gene expression in bacteria.

Journal article

Buchler, Nicolas E|0000-0003-3940-3432

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26040722

357

360

7560

Basic Science Departments

Biology

Biomedical Engineering

Duke

Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Physics

Pratt School of Engineering

School of Medicine

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Published

523