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Molecular biology and the kinetics of growth: I. Cell growth

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Abstract

The findings of molecular biology concerning biosynthesis of macromolecules are applied to the deduction of the kinetics of mass and volume growth in individual cells between divisions. The time course of increase of all macromolecules and of the total dry mass is found to be linear, in agreement with the available data; the corresponding volume growth curves are either quadratic, or exponential with a linear asymptote, depending on the relative contributions of metabolism and transport to cell water. A self-limiting mass and volume kinetics is derived by including repression among the other molecular mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

    John M. Reiner

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  1. John M. Reiner
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Publication No. 825 of the Division of Basic Health Sciences.

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Reiner, J.M. Molecular biology and the kinetics of growth: I. Cell growth. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 29, 349–361 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476906

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476906

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