Final words: cell age and cell cycle are unlinked

• Published in: Trends in biotechnology (Regular ed.) Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 277 - 278
• Main Authors: Spellman, Paul T, Sherlock, Gavin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2004; Elsevier Science; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Age; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Cell culture; Cell cycle; Cell Cycle - genetics; Cell Cycle - physiology; Cell division; Cell Division - genetics; Cell Division - physiology; DNA - biosynthesis; Eukaryotic Cells - physiology; Experiments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Profiling; Genomes; Methods; Mitosis - genetics; Mitosis - physiology; Models, Biological; Population; Time Factors; Yeast; Cell culture; Age; Cell cycle
• ISSN: 0167-7799; 1879-3096
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2004.04.012

Cooper has a simple belief: that the cell cycle is connected to age and size. Furthermore, as a result of this connection in his mind he believes that there are no possible manipulations that can operate on a batch culture to synchronize cells within the cell cycle, such that those cells can undergo a semblance of a normal cell cycle. His formulation of this argument is as a ‘fundamental law’, the law of conservation of cell-age order (LCCAO). The first part of this law – ‘there is no batch treatment of the culture that can lead to an alteration of the cell-age order’ – can probably be proved true, in the mathematical sense, and certainly makes intuitive sense. Unfortunately the corollaries of this law are rather suspect, drawing inferences from cell age to cell size to the cell cycle.