The Cell Cycle in the Fission Yeast, <I>Schizosaccharomyces pombe</I>. I. Relationship between Cell Size and Cycle Time

Abstract

Various sized individual fission yeast cells, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, enclosed in small culture chambers were examined to see whether the size of the mother cells is related to the behavior of the cell cycle in the daughter cells. The lengths of the doubling time estimated from the elongation rates were similar regardless of the length of the mother cells. The final lengths of daughter cells from mother cells smaller than 20 μm were not related to the initial size, but the final lengths of cells larger than 20 μm showed a linear relationship to the initial size. The period of the cell cycle in the daughter cells was negatively proportional to the length of mother cells smaller than 20 μm, but the period was constant in cells larger than 20 μm with a relative value about 0.6 that of the normal cells. The relation of these results to the mechanism which maintains a particular cell size in proliferating cells is discussed.