Why Cells Grow and Divide? General Growth Mechanism and How it Defines Cells’ Growth, Reproduction and Metabolic Properties

Abstract

We consider a general growth mechanism, which acts at cellular level and above (organs, systems and whole organisms). Using its mathematical representation, the growth equation, we study the growth and division mechanisms of amoeba and fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We show how this mechanism, together with biomolecular machinery, governs growth and reproduction of cells, and these organisms in particular. This mechanism provides revealing answers to fundamental questions of biology, like why cells grow and divide, why and when cells’ growth stops. It also sheds light on questions like why and how life originated and developed. Solving the growth equation, we obtain analytical expression for the growth curve of fission yeast as a function of geometrical characteristics and nutrient influxes for RNA and protein synthesis, and compare the computed growth curves with 85 experiments. Statistical evaluation shows that these growth curves correspond to experimental data significantly better than all previous approximations. Also, using the general growth mechanism, we show how metabolic characteristics of cells, their size and evolutionary traits relate, considering fission yeast. In particular, we found that fission yeast S. pombe consumes about 16–18 times more nutrients for maintenance needs than for biomass synthesis.