Plasticity of nuclear cycling in response to the environment (PCNE)

The traditional view of proliferation in eukaryotic cells maintains that genome duplication is followed by cellular division into two new daughter cells, each containing its own nucleus. Organisms have evolved diverse strategies to accomplish this feat efficiently whilst acted upon by different selection pressures, some of which alter the mode of proliferation altogether. Strikingly, several organisms across the tree of life have evolved to utilize the multiplication of genetic material without the generation of new daughter cells as a successful replicative strategy. Although the nuclei reside in a shared cytoplasm, the dynamics of the nuclear cycles of multinucleate cells vary across organisms, from synchronicity, such as in the Drosophila embryo, to asynchronous replication as in the filamentous fungi Ashbya gossypii. While the fast, synchronized divisions in developing Drosophila embryos are hypothesized to benefit growth speeds, asynchronous divisions are hypothesized to balance replication speed with resource availability. While it is evident that the efficient use of resources for regulating the cell cycle control network is fundamental for survival and adaptation to the environment, the factors and molecular mechanisms regulating autonomous nuclear cycles in multinucleate cells are largely unknown. 

Eurpoean Commission Project details

Basic Science
Genetics and Genomics

Sep 2024 — Aug 2026

$188,182

Germany