Bridging the time scales of single-cell and population dynamics

Abstract

How are granular details of stochastic growth and division of individual cells reflected in smooth deterministic growth of population numbers? We provide an integrated, multiscale perspective of microbial growth dynamics by formulating a data-validated theoretical framework that accounts for observables at both single-cell and population scales. We derive exact analytical complete time-dependent solutions to cell-age distributions and population growth rates as functionals of the underlying interdivision time distributions, for symmetric and asymmetric cell division. These results provide insights into the surprising implications of stochastic single-cell dynamics for population growth. Using our results for asymmetric division, we deduce the time to transition from the reproductively quiescent (swarmer) to replication-competent (stalked) stage of the {\em Caulobacter crescentus} lifecycle. Remarkably, population numbers can spontaneously oscillate with time. We elucidate the physics leading to these population oscillations. For {\em C. crescentus} cells, we show that a simple measurement of the population growth rate, for a given growth condition, is sufficient to characterize the condition-specific cellular unit of time, and thus yields the mean (single-cell) growth and division timescales, fluctuations in cell division times, the cell age distribution, and the quiescence timescale.

References in corpus (3)

• Scaling laws governing stochastic growth and division of single bacterial cells
• Universality in stochastic exponential growth
• Phenomenology of stochastic exponential growth

Cited by in corpus (16)

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• From single-cell variability to population growth
• Population dynamics of driven autocatalytic reactive mixtures
• Cell size regulation induces sustained oscillations in the population growth rate
• Fluctuation relations and fitness landscapes of growing cell populations
• Exactly solvable model of gene expression in proliferating bacterial cell population with stochastic protein bursts and protein partitioning
• Initial cell density encodes proliferative potential in cancer cell populations
• A large deviation principle linking lineage statistics to fitness in microbial populations
• Generalized Euler-Lotka equation for correlated cell divisions
• Master equation approach to the stochastic accumulation dynamics of bacterial cell cycle
• Asymptotic decoupling of population growth rate and cell size distribution
• Characterizing stochastic cell cycle dynamics in exponential growth
• Morphogen gradient formation in partially absorbing media
• Competition between transient oscillations and early stochasticity in exponentially growing populations
• Genome replication in asynchronously growing microbial populations
• Exactly Solvable Population Model with Square-Root Growth Noise and Cell-Size Regulation