Size control goes global.
The size of cells, tissues and organisms is a fundamental yet poorly understood attribute of biological systems. Traditional difficulties in interrogating the basis for size regulation have been surmounted by recent systematic phenotypic analyses. Genome-wide size screens in yeast suggest that ribosome biogenesis rate dictates cell size thresholds, whereas analogous RNAi-based size screens in metazoans cells reveal further connections between cell size and translation, as well as myriad other pathways. Sophisticated genetic screens in flies have delineated the new Hippo-signalling pathway that controls tissue and organ size. While the plethora of genes that alter size phenotypes at present defies a unified model, systems-level analysis suggests many new inroads into the longstanding enigma of size control.
Cook
Mike
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Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5.
Tyers
Mike
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D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D048429:Cell Size; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015003:Yeasts / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism