Minicells, Back in Fashion

Farley, Madeline M.; Hu, Bo; Margolin, William; Liu, Jun

doi:10.1128/jb.00901-15

Cited by 82 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 109 publications

(110 reference statements)

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“…This extreme situation (CV 2 p = 1) appears, however, only when one daughter inherits all of the mother's size resulting in a non-growing cell and one that grows without bound. Such a situation has been observed in minicell-producing mutants of E. coli, but these cells also allow for divisions at mid-cell reinforcing their overall viability [33]. In the following, we investigate in more detail the conditions for finite mean and variance.…”

Section: Moment Conditions For Cell Size Homeostasismentioning

confidence: 84%

Analysis of Cell Size Homeostasis at the Single-Cell and Population Level

Thomas

2018

Front. Phys.

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Growth pervades all areas of life from single cells to cell populations to tissues. Cell size often fluctuates significantly from cell to cell and from generation to generation. Here we present a unified framework to predict the statistics of cell size variations within a lineage tree of a proliferating population. We analytically characterize (i) the distributions of cell size snapshots, (ii) the distribution within a population tree, and (iii) the distribution of lineages across the tree. Surprisingly, these size distributions differ significantly from observing single cells in isolation. In populations, cells seemingly grow to different sizes, typically exhibit less cell-to-cell variability and often display qualitatively different sensitivities to cell cycle noise and division errors. We demonstrate the key findings using recent single-cell data and elaborate on the implications for the ability of cells to maintain a narrow size distribution and the emergence of different power laws in these distributions.

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Section: Moment Conditions For Cell Size Homeostasismentioning

confidence: 84%

Analysis of Cell Size Homeostasis at the Single-Cell and Population Level

Thomas

2018

Front. Phys.

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“…This extreme situation (CV 2 p = 1) appears, however, only when one daughter inherits all of the mother's size resulting in a non-growing cell and one that grows without bound. Such a situation has been observed in minicell-producing mutants of E. coli, but these cells also allow for divisions at mid-cell reinforcing their overall viability 30 . In the following, we investigate in more detail the conditions for finite mean and variance.…”

Section: B Moment Conditions For Cell Size Homeostasismentioning

confidence: 78%

Analysis of cell size homeostasis at the single-cell and population level

Thomas

2018

Preprint

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Growth pervades all areas of life from single cells to cell populations to tissues. However, cell size often fluctuates significantly from cell to cell and from generation to generation. Here we present a unified framework to predict the statistics of cell size variations within a lineage tree of a proliferating population. We analytically characterise (i) the distributions of cell size snapshots, (ii) the distribution within a population tree, and (iii) the distribution of lineages across the tree. Surprisingly, these size distributions differ significantly from observing single cells in isolation. In populations, cells seemingly grow to different sizes, typically exhibit less cell-to-cell variability and often display qualitatively different sensitivities to cell cycle noise and division errors. We demonstrate the key findings using recent single-cell data and elaborate on the implications for the ability of cells to maintain a narrow size distribution and the emergence of different power laws in these distributions.

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“…Under these circumstances, FtsZ will promote asymmetric cell division, thus resulting in the formation of minicells, which usually do not contain nucleic acids and are thus unable to further divide . Historically, minicells have been exploited as model systems for visualizing molecular machines by using high‐resolution cryoelectron tomography . As the resolution of cryoelectron tomography is limited by the species thickness, minicells are attractive due to their very small size.…”

Section: From Natural Adaptation To Synthetic Morphology Of Single Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting Bacteria in Shape: Synthetic Morphology Approaches for the Design of Efficient Microbial Cell Factories

Volke

Nikel

2018

Adv. Biosys.

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Supported by the tools of contemporary synthetic biology, the field of metabolic engineering has advanced in its overarching purpose of contributing efficient bioprocesses for the synthesis of biochemicals by addressing a number of cell and process parameters. The morphology and spatial organization of bacterial biocatalysts has been somewhat overlooked in such endeavors. The shape, size, and surface features of bacteria are maintained over evolutionary timescales and, under tight control of complex genetic programs, are faithfully reproduced each generation—and offer a phenomenal target for manipulations. This review discusses how these structural traits of bacteria can be exploited for designing efficient biocatalysts based on specific morphologies of both single cells and natural and artificial communities (e.g., catalytic biofilms). Examples are presented on how morphologies and physical forms of bacterial cell factories can be programmed while engineering their biochemical activities. The concept of synthetic morphology opens up strategies for industrial purposes and holds the potential to improve the economic feasibility of some bioprocesses by endowing bacteria with emergent, useful spatial properties. By entertaining potential applications of synthetic morphology in the future, this review outlines how multicellular organization and bacterial biorobots can be programmed to fulfill complex tasks in several fields.

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Minicells, Back in Fashion

Cited by 82 publications

References 109 publications

Analysis of Cell Size Homeostasis at the Single-Cell and Population Level

Analysis of Cell Size Homeostasis at the Single-Cell and Population Level

Analysis of cell size homeostasis at the single-cell and population level

Getting Bacteria in Shape: Synthetic Morphology Approaches for the Design of Efficient Microbial Cell Factories

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