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arXiv · 2003.05350

Cell cycle heritability and localization phase transition in growing populations

Takashi Nozoe·Edo Kussell
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Abstract

The cell cycle duration is a variable cellular phenotype that underlies long-term population growth and age structures. By analyzing the stationary solutions of a branching process with heritable cell division times, we demonstrate existence of a phase transition, which can be continuous or first-order, by which a non-zero fraction of the population becomes localized at a minimal division time. Just below the transition, we demonstrate coexistence of localized and delocalized age-structure phases, and power law decay of correlation functions. Above it, we observe self-synchronization of cell cycles, collective divisions, and slow 'aging' of population growth rates.

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Takashi Nozoe, Edo Kussell. 2020-03-11. Cell cycle heritability and localization phase transition in growing populations. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.268103

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