Cellular resource allocation strategies for cell size and shape control in bacteria

TL;DR

This paper reviews how bacteria regulate their cell size and shape through resource allocation and growth control mechanisms, integrating models with experimental data to understand physiological principles.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of regulatory models linking bacterial morphology, growth, and resource allocation, highlighting recent advances and unifying principles.

Findings

Nutrient conditions and translational changes influence cell size and growth.

Quantitative models connect proteome composition to cell morphology.

Resource allocation strategies optimize bacterial size control.

Abstract

Bacteria are highly adaptive microorganisms that thrive in a wide range of growth conditions via changes in cell morphologies and macromolecular composition. How bacterial morphologies are regulated in diverse environmental conditions is a longstanding question. Regulation of cell size and shape implies control mechanisms that couple the growth and division of bacteria to their cellular environment and macromolecular composition. In the past decade, simple quantitative laws have emerged that connect cell growth to proteomic composition and the nutrient availability. However, the relationships between cell size, shape and growth physiology remain challenging to disentangle and unifying models are lacking. In this review, we focus on regulatory models of cell size control that reveal the connections between bacterial cell morphology and growth physiology. In particular, we discuss how changes in nutrient conditions and translational perturbations regulate the cell size, growth rate and proteome composition. Integrating quantitative models with experimental data, we identify the physiological principles of bacterial size regulation, and discuss the optimization strategies of cellular resource allocation for size control.