Bringing the genetically minimal cell to life on a computer in 4D - PubMed
3 days ago
- #minimal cell
- #whole-cell modeling
- #cell cycle
- A whole-cell spatial and kinetic model for the genetically minimal bacterium JCVI-syn3A's cell cycle is presented.
- The model simulates the complete cell cycle in 4D (space and time), including genetic processes, metabolic networks, growth, and cell division.
- Hybrid computational methods are used to model morphological transformations, with growth driven by lipid and membrane protein insertion.
- Chromosome replication and segregation are controlled by essential proteins, with replication rates responding to dNTP pools from metabolism.
- The model captures experimental measurements like doubling time, mRNA half-lives, protein distributions, and ribosome counts.
- Stochasticity ensures each replicate cell is unique, predicting both average behavior and heterogeneity among daughter cells.