Environmental control of cell size at division

Abstract

Tight coupling between cell growth and cell cycle progression allows cells to adjust their size to the demands of proliferation in varying nutrient environments. Target of rapamycin (TOR) signalling pathways co-ordinate cell growth with cell cycle progression in response to altered nutritional availability. To increase cell size the active TOR Complex 1 (TORC1) promotes cell growth to delay mitosis and cell division, whereas under limited nutrients TORC1 activity is decreased to reduce cell size. It remains unclear why cell size is subject to such tight control. Recent evidence suggests that in addition to modulating cell size, changes in nutrient availability also alter nuclear:cytoplasmic (N/C) ratios and may therefore compromise optimal cellular physiology. This could explain why cells increase their size when conditions are favourable, despite being competent to survive at a smaller size if necessary.