Speaker: Thomas Fai (Brandeis)
Location: DRL 4C2 and via Zoom (Meeting ID: 913 5062 1153, Password: 747737)
Title: Mathematical models of organelle size control and scaling
Abstract: The size of the nucleus scales robustly with cell size so that the nuclear-to-cell size—the N/C ratio—is maintained during growth in many cell types. To address the fundamental question of how cells maintain the size of their organelles despite the constant turnover of proteins and biomolecules, we consider a model based on osmotic force balance, which predicts a stable nuclear-to-cell size ratio, in good agreement with experiments on the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We model the synthesis of macromolecules during growth using chemical kinetics and demonstrate how the N/C ratio is maintained in homeostasis. We compare the variance in the N/C ratio predicted by the model to that observed experimentally.