From single-cell variability to population growth

Abstract

Single-cell experiments have revealed cell-to-cell variability in generation times and growth rates for genetically identical cells. Theoretical models relating the fluctuating generation times of single cells to the population growth rate are usually based on the assumption that the generation times of mother and daughter cells are uncorrelated. This assumption, however, is inconsistent with the exponential growth of cell volume in time observed for many cell types. Here we develop a more general and biologically relevant model in which cells grow exponentially and generation times are correlated in a manner which controls cell size. In addition to the fluctuating generation times, we also allow the single-cell growth rates to fluctuate and account for their correlations across the lineage tree. Surprisingly, we find that the population growth rate only depends on the distribution of single-cell growth rates and their correlations.

arXiv comment9 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Cell size regulation in microorganisms
• Single-cell analysis of growth in budding yeast and bacteria reveals a common size regulation strategy
• Individuality and universality in the growth-division laws of single E. coli cells
• Bridging the time scales of single-cell and population dynamics
• Correlations of single-cell division times with and without periodic forcing

Cited by in corpus (9)

• A large deviation principle linking lineage statistics to fitness in microbial populations
• Analytical cell size distribution: lineage-population bias and parameter inference
• Non-genetic variability: survival strategy or nuisance?
• Generalized Euler-Lotka equation for correlated cell divisions
• Asymptotic decoupling of population growth rate and cell size distribution
• Competition between transient oscillations and early stochasticity in exponentially growing populations
• From noisy cell size control to population growth: when variability can be beneficial
• Exponential ergodicity of a degenerate age-size piecewise deterministic process
• Exactly Solvable Population Model with Square-Root Growth Noise and Cell-Size Regulation