Talk:Cell growth

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This article seems to be about cell reproduction, not cell growth. - Nunh-huh 06:42, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I agree. It is a long standing tradition (particularly in some fields of biology such as Develomental biology) for people to use the phrase "cell growth" when, in fact, it might be better to say "cell reproduction". In practical terms, the phrase "cell growth" seems to be a good shorthand to the idea of "growth in cell numbers by means of cell reproduction".

Within biology, the term "cell reproduction" is almost never used by working biologists. (data: in the Entrez search engine has ZERO occurrences of "cell reproduction" and over 36,000 occurrences of "cell growth".) I think biologists want to use the word "reproduction" in the context of the reproduction of multicellular organisms, not cells. In biology textbooks (see: the searchable Entrez Bookshelf), the term "cell reproduction" is used as I have used it in the "cell growth" article, as a way to clearly (pendantically) refer to processes that working biologists prefer to refer to using the jargonistic phrase "cell growth".

I am not sure how Wikipedia deals with these situations. Does information go under the most commonly used name or under the most technically correct name? With good re-direction it probably does not matter. I was reluctant to create an article called "cell reproduction" because working biologists do not use that phrase. Since biology students and the interested public might search Wikipedia for "cell reproduction" we should either create an article for it or re-direct it to "cell growth". JWSchmidt 14:59, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

My understanding is that we go with "most common term", not most correct. So probably a redirect from

cell reproduction would suffice. Still, it seems a shame that we have so little information on actual cell growth (the greater part of the so-called "growth cycle") yet apparently the part least studied or least known. The titling thing wouldn't be disconcerting if there were less concentration on the "M phase" and at least a little information on G1, S, and G2 phases of the cycle. - Nunh-huh

17:21, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Another term used is cell proliferation.

I agree that there should be a section on how cells regulate their size. Possible topics:

• most cells do not show much increase in size, but cytoplasmic contents generally scale easily during growth.
• the coupling between cell size and cell division in yeast. Cell Growth Requires a Prolonged Interphase with Cell-Cycle Checkpoints | Differences in the way a mammalian cell and yeast cells coordinate cell growth and cell-cycle progression
• molecular mechanisms of mammalian cell size control Mammalian cell size is controlled by mTOR and its downstream targets S6K1 and 4EBP1/eIF4E | Essential role of PDK1 in regulating cell size and development in mice
• cell fusion and syncytia. rolling pebbles (rols) is required in Drosophila muscle precursors for recruitment of myoblasts for fusion
• large, post-mitotic neurons; cell body, axon and dendrite growth. Phrenic motoneuron morphology during rapid diaphragm muscle growth
• egg cells as a special case. Maturation of the oocyte in amphibians
• plant cell growth REPRESSION OF SHOOT GROWTH, a bZIP Transcriptional Activator, Regulates Cell Elongation by Controlling the Level of Gibberellins
• giant bacteria and protozoa as special cases. Dense populations of a giant sulfur bacterium in Namibian shelf sediments Large protists of the genus Chaos, closely related to the genus Amoeba

JWSchmidt 17:57, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Cells may also grow, this is the case in plant development, cells divide in the meristems and then expand (grow) through development of a number of organelles (like the vaculoe). Cells may also increase volume by endomitosis, making the nuclei large. I'm happy to elaborate in the article, but I'm not sure where it would go- perhaps a section called increasing cell volume--