title: Cell cycle modelling.
abstract: Models able to describe the events of cellular growth and division and the dynamics of cell populations are useful for the understanding of functional control mechanisms and for the theoretical support for automated analysis of flow cytometric data and of cell volume distributions. This paper reports on models that we have developed with this aim for different kinds of cells. The models are composed by two subsystems: one describes the growth dynamics of RNA and protein, and the second accounts for DNA replication and cell division, and describe in a rather unitary frame the cell cycle of eukaryotic cells, like mammalian cells and yeast, and of prokaryotic cells. The model is also used to study the effects of various sources of variability on the statistical properties of cell populations, and we find that in microbial cells the main source of variability appears to be an inaccuracy of the molecular mechanism that monitors cell size. In normal mammalian cells another source of variability, that depends upon the interaction with growth factors which give competence, is apparent. An extended version of the model, which comprises also this additional variability, is presented and used to describe the properties of mammalian cell growth.
mesh_terms: D000656:Amoeba / Q000166:cytology; D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002455:Cell Division; D004261:DNA Replication; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009492:Neurospora crassa / Q000166:cytology; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA