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SUMMARY:Physical views of bacterial cells:  size regulation in E.Coli - Dr
  Pietro Cicuta
DTSTART:20151126T120000Z
DTEND:20151126T130000Z
UID:TALK61635@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Salvatore Tesoro
DESCRIPTION:Bacteria are simpler than eukaryotic cells\, and have served f
 or decades as model systems to investigate various levels of biological qu
 estions. They are also of course immensely important physiologically and t
 echnologically. In this scenario E.Coli has been a model organism - and ye
 t it is still not clear how a\nvariety of very simple processes are carrie
 d out by these cells.\n\nMany of these open questions are not to do with s
 pecific molecular mechanisms\, but are instead one level "up" in complexit
 y. Examples go from how the chromosomes partition robustly into opposite s
 ides of the cell\, ready for division\, to how the physical conformation o
 f the chromosome at various scales affects gene expression\, and to how ro
 d-like bacteria like E.Coli "know" when to initiate cell division.   At th
 is level\, the questions have as much to do with physics as they have with
  the underlying specific molecular mechanisms.\n\nWe will focus on just on
 e aspect on which we have been active recently\, working experimentally in
  our lab\, and developing theory particularly with M.Cosentino Lagomarsino
  in Paris.  I will describe efforts at disentangling the source of size co
 ntrol in E.Coli. Working not at the level of molecular mechanisms\, but lo
 oking instead at a large dataset of single cell growth rate and cell size 
 at division\, we conclude that\nE.Coli cell size is not regulated by neith
 er a pure "sizer" nor "timer"\, and we caution against thinking the topic 
 is settled with the recently proposed "adder" mechanism.
LOCATION:TCM Seminar room\, 530 Mott building
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