# Scaling of transcript abundance with cell size and the commitment to cell division

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK · 2020 · $313,825

## Abstract

Abstract:
All cells must grow to a minimum size—the “critical size”—before they can commit to cell
division. This size requirement prevents cells from becoming too big or too small, and it co-
ordinates division with the availability of nutrients and cell growth in mass. As a consequence of
size control, cells have narrow and characteristic distributions of cell size. Despite decades of
study, it is unknown how cells measure and respond to size, or why mechanistically a minimum
size is required for commitment to division. We have recently discovered that as G1 phase
yeast cells grow in size, several hundred mRNAs are systematically expressed at higher and
higher levels—they increase faster than the increase in size, and increase in concentration.
Other mRNAs do the opposite—they increase slower than the increase in size, and so decrease
in concentration. Strikingly, genes that activate the cell cycle fall into the first group, while
genes that inhibit the cell cycle fall into the second group. This suggests that the ratio of
activators to inhibitors increases as G1 phase cells grow, and that it is achievement of a critical
ratio of many activators to inhibitors that triggers cell cycle entry. Here, we test the generality of
this idea, by examining mRNA scaling-with-size in the yeast S. pombe and in human cells, and
we will test two theories for the mechanism of differential-scaling-with-size. Finally we will ask if
similar scaling occurs at the level of translation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9853823
- **Project number:** 5R01GM127542-02
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
- **Principal Investigator:** BRUCE Bruce FUTCHER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $313,825
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9853823

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9853823, Scaling of transcript abundance with cell size and the commitment to cell division (5R01GM127542-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9853823. Licensed CC0.

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