【ELSI】How are metabolism and cell growth connected? — A mystery over 180 years old

Scientists discover a simple principle explaining how increased nutrient levels alter cell growth rate, revealing a universal law of microbial growth

A research team including a scientist of Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, has identified a novel principle in biology that mathematically explains why the growth of organisms slows as nutrients become more abundant—a phenomenon known as “the law of diminishing returns.”

Understanding how living organisms grow under various nutritional environments has long been a central question in biology. Across microbes, plants, and animals, growth is shaped by the availability of nutrients, energy, and cellular machinery. While extensive research has explored these limitations, most studies focus only on individual nutrients or specific biochemical reactions, leaving a broader question unanswered: how do complex, interconnected cellular processes collectively regulate growth under constrained conditions?

To address this, a research team consisting of ELSI’s Specially Appointed Associate Professor Tetsuhiro S. Hatakeyama and RIKEN Special Postdoctoral Researcher Jumpei F. Yamagishi has discovered a unifying principle that explains how all living cells regulate growth when resources are limited. Their study introduces the global constraint principle for microbial growth, a concept that could transform how scientists approach the study of biological systems.

Reference

Jumpei F. Yamagishi, Tetsuhiro S. Hatakeyama. Global constraint principle for microbial growth laws. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences（PNAS）. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2515031122

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