Futcher Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2024

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

Project Summary/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 small, and co-ordinates division with cell growth in mass. As a consequence of size control, cells have narrow and characteristic distributions of cell size—that is, size homeostasis. 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. The first term of this grant showed that as yeast cells grow in size, hundreds of mRNAs are systematically expressed at higher and higher levels—they increase in abundance…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.