4 ms·
This reminds me also of this paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1115585109 https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1115585109 "The allocation o
by Imnimo 4mo ago
This reminds me also of this paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1115585109 https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.1115585109
"The allocation of all metabolic resources to maintenance purposes limits the size of the smallest prokaryotes and largest unicellular eukaryotes, whereas an inability to meet the ever-increasing biosynthesis rates limits the largest prokaryotes and smallest unicellular eukaryotes. Metabolic constraints for larger eukaryotes are relieved by alternative reproductive strategies and multicellularity."
- RataNova 4mo agoThat framing makes the article feel even more interesting, because it's not just "cells are small because diffusion gets slow". There's also an energy budget behind it