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On the Minimal Requirements for the Emergence of Cellular Crowding

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The Minimal Cell

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Abstract

A plausible route to highly concentrated cellular compartments is sketched. The main driving force comes from the selective advantage of a higher macromolecular content. The evolution from a diluted to a crowded state is described with a minimal model of growing bacteria. Additional simplifications to the model, aimed to mimic ancestral protocellular growth and division, lead to a model still rendering a selective advantage to increased macromolecular concentration.

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Acknowledgements

L.A. acknowledges support from Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas (PEDECIBA, Uruguay). Financial support from Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación (ANII, Uruguay) is acknowledged from both authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systems Biology Laboratory, University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Luis Acerenza

  2. Bioinformatics Unit, Pasteur Institute of Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Martín Graña

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  1. Luis Acerenza
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  2. Martín Graña
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Correspondence to Luis Acerenza or Martín Graña .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipto. Biologia, Università Roma Tre, Viale Guglielmo Marconi 446, Roma, 00146, Italy

    Pier Luigi Luisi

  2. , Biology Department, University of Roma Tre, Viale Guglielmo Marconi 446, Rome, 00146, Italy

    Pasquale Stano

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Acerenza, L., Graña, M. (2011). On the Minimal Requirements for the Emergence of Cellular Crowding. In: Luisi, P., Stano, P. (eds) The Minimal Cell. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9944-0_3

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