spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Grundel, R.
Right arrow Articles by Rubin, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Grundel, R.
Right arrow Articles by Rubin, H.

Journal of Cell Science, Vol 91, Issue 4 571-576, Copyright © 1988 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Maintenance of multiplication rate stability by cell populations in the face of heterogeneity among individual cells

R Grundel and H Rubin
Department of Molecular Biology and Virus Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

We addressed the question of how a population of cells can maintain a constant multiplication rate given the heterogeneity of its individual members. Using the NIH 3T3 line of mouse embryo cells, comparisons were made of multiplication rates between offspring subclones and the parental clones from which the subclones were derived. Parents at all levels of multiplication rate produced offspring with a wide range of multiplication rates. Offspring from parent cells with the highest growth rates rarely exceeded their parents in rate of multiplication. Offspring from slow-growing parents, however, often exceeded the parents. It is concluded that the multiplication of NIH 3T3 populations represents constant diversification in multiplication rate: heterogeneous parents producing heterogeneous offspring. Population growth rates can remain stable because the fastest-growing parents generally produce offspring that multiply slower than the parents while the slowest parents often produce offspring that multiply faster than the parents.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1988