Figure 1.

Exponential and linear growth patterns are both compatible with cell size maintenance. In panel (a) newborn cells of identical size increase mass at slightly different rates with an exponential pattern of mass increase. If cells divide at a constant cell size, here size 2.0, size will be maintained even though the rate of mass increase varies. This occurs as the cells divide at different times (division indicated by the downward arrows) as they reach the same size. In panel (b), exponential growth at identical rates from initial cells of different cell sizes also gives size maintenance as cells divide at the same size because there are different interdivision times for each cell; the larger initial cells have a shorter interdivision time and the smaller initial cells have a longer interdivision time. As shown in panels (c) and (d), linear cell increase (note the different ordinate scale compared to panels (a) and (b)) can also lead to cell size maintenance as cells divide at the same size, 2.0.