Schizosaccharomyces pombe grows exponentially during the division cycle with no rate change points

Abstract

Length measurements during the division cycle of 86 individual Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells demonstrate that length grows exponentially with no change in the growth rate and no rate change point (RCP) observed for any cell. These results support the proposal that length extension, or cell growth, is exponential during the division cycle. The finding of exponential growth during the cell cycle is significant because these results challenge and contradict the current, consensus, widely believed, and widely accepted view that growth of S. pombe during the division cycle is complex with ranges of linear growth changing at proposed RCPs. Biochemical synthetic patterns support and explain the observed exponential cell growth. Exponential growth of S. pombe is consistent with, and supports, the central tenets of the continuum model. © 2013 Federation of European Microbiological Societies.