CAREER: Cell Size Control

细胞有一个大小，在这个大小上它们能最好地发挥生理功能。事实上，所有类型的细胞，无论是细菌、植物还是动物，在生长和分裂的过程中都保持着特定的大小。然而，尽管细胞大小控制是细胞的一个普遍而重要的特性，但对细胞大小控制的分子机制及其在物理化学中的基础仍然知之甚少。在这个项目中，PI以酵母为模型，将采用多种技术组合来解决这个问题。新的高通量，单细胞筛选，遗传分析和活细胞成像技术将被使用。实验和分析的迭代过程将用于构建和测试细胞大小控制检查点的机械数学模型。更广泛的影响：除了培养博士后和研究生外，PI还将与高中生（包括科学界代表性不足的群体成员）、高中教师和本科生一起开展跨学科项目，以确定影响细胞大小选择的环境控制。学生们将通过量化和分析有孔虫（一组单细胞生物）的大量化石记录来确定环境对细胞和基因组大小的控制。优良的化石记录和现代有孔虫的高度多样性为研究地质对细胞大小演化的影响提供了一个独特的系统。这个由PI领导的年轻研究小组将有机会大大提高我们对这一基本生物过程的理解。

Cells have a size at which they can best perform their physiological functions. Indeed all cell types, whether bacterial, plant or animal, maintain a characteristic size as they grow and divide. However, despite the fact that cell size control is a universal and fundamentally important property of cells, the molecular mechanism of size control and its basis in physical chemistry remain poorly understood. In this project the PI, using yeast as a model, will employ a combination of techniques to address this question. Novel high-throughput, single-cell screening, genetic analysis and live cell imaging techniques will be used. An iterative process of experimentation and analysis will be used to construct and test mechanistic mathematical models of the cell size control checkpoint. Broader Impacts: In addition to training a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student, the PI will work with high school students (including members of groups under-represented in science), high school teachers and undergraduates in an interdisciplinary project to determine the environmental controls influencing cell size selection. The students will identify environmental controls on cell and genome size by quantifying and analyzing the extensive fossil record for the foraminifera (a group of single-celled organisms). The excellent fossil record and high modern diversity of foraminifera provide a unique system for studying geological influences on the evolution of cell size. This team of young investigators, led by the PI, will have the opportunity to substantially enhance our understanding of this fundamental biological process.