Cell size regulation and proliferation fluctuations in single-cell derived colonies (original) (raw)

Exponentially growing cells regulate their size by controlling their timing of division. Since two daughter cells are born as a result of this cell splitting, cell size regulation has a direct connection with cell proliferation dynamics. Recent models found more clues about this connection by suggesting that division occurs at a size-dependent rate. In this article, we propose a framework that couples the stochastic transient dynamics of both the cell size and the number of cells in the initial expansion of a single-cell-derived colony. We describe the population from the two most common perspectives. The first is known as Single Lineage: where only one cell is followed in each colony, and the second is Population Snapshots: where all cells in different colonies are followed. At a low number of cells, we propose a third perspective; Single Colony, where one tracks only cells with a common ancestor. We observe how the statistics of these three approaches are different at low numbers ...