title: Nuclear size control in fission yeast.
abstract: A long-standing biological question is how a eukaryotic cell controls the size of its nucleus. We report here that in fission yeast, nuclear size is proportional to cell size over a 35-fold range, and use mutants to show that a 16-fold change in nuclear DNA content does not influence the relative size of the nucleus. Multi-nucleated cells with unevenly distributed nuclei reveal that nuclei surrounded by a greater volume of cytoplasm grow more rapidly. During interphase of the cell cycle nuclear growth is proportional to cell growth, and during mitosis there is a rapid expansion of the nuclear envelope. When the nuclear/cell (N/C) volume ratio is increased by centrifugation or genetic manipulation, nuclear growth is arrested while the cell continues to grow; in contrast, low N/C ratios are rapidly corrected by nuclear growth. We propose that there is a general cellular control linking nuclear growth to cell size.
authors.affiliation: The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA. fneumann@rockefeller.edu
authors.forename: Frank R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nurse
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D048429:Cell Size; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007211:Indoles; D018715:Microscopy, Video; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D053141:Organelle Size; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C477369:CDC11 protein, S pombe; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C115450:Cut11 protein, S pombe; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007211:Indoles; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; C007293:DAPI