ArticleCurrent biology : CB2015
Inverse size scaling of the nucleolus by a concentration-dependent phase transition.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 167 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
167 citing papers in PubMed, 267 citations in OpenAlex.
- Elucidating structure-function relationships in the mammalian nucleolus.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026Review
- Cell size reduction distinctly scales spindle elongation and chromosome segregation in C. elegans.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Nuclear size and physical properties of the nucleoplasm are determined by colloid osmotic pressure at the nuclear envelope.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Nuclear envelope-dependent heterochromatin positioning gates the timing of nucleolar assembly in the early embryo.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Getting nuclear size just right - emerging mechanisms regulating nuclear scaling and morphology.Journal of cell science · 2026Review
- Distinct disassembly modes shape cytoskeletal assembly and fluctuations.Biophysical reports · 2026Article
- Pathways of rDNA copy number homeostasis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- Pharmacological targeting of oncogenic condensates in cancer: mechanistic insights and therapeutic opportunities.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Review
- Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in Major Hallmarks of Cancer.Cell proliferation · 2026Review
- The role of LLPS of biomacromolecules in the gonads and related diseases.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Cell size reduction scales spindle elongation but not chromosome segregation inResearch square · 2025Article
- Molecular mechanisms mediated by liquid-liquid phase separation in chronic liver disease progression.iScience · 2025Review
- Endocrine Examples of Phase Separation in Biology.Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Vortex-Generated Microdroplets Enable Simple, Rapid, and Low-Volume Measurement of Condensate Volume and Concentration.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Cell size reduction scales spindle elongation but not chromosome segregation inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- In situ quantification of ribosome number by electron tomography.Journal of microscopy · 2025Article
- Charged peptides enriched in aromatic residues decelerate condensate ageing driven by cross-β-sheet formation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Quantitative Signatures of Disassembly Mechanisms Modulating Filament and Bundle Assembly in a Shared Pool.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Design principles and feedback mechanisms in organelle size control.Current opinion in cell biology · 2025Review
- Transcription-templated assembly of the nucleolus in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
107 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Just as organ size typically increases with body size, the size of intracellular structures changes as cells grow and divide. Indeed, many organelles, such as the nucleus [1, 2], mitochondria [3], mitotic spindle [4, 5], and centrosome [6], exhibit size scaling, a phenomenon in which organelle size depends linearly on cell size. However, the mechanisms of organelle size scaling remain unclear. Here, we show that the size of the nucleolus, a membraneless organelle important for cell-size homeostasis [7], is coupled to cell size by an intracellular phase transition. We find that nucleolar size directly scales with cell size in early C. elegans embryos. Surprisingly, however, when embryo size is altered, we observe inverse scaling: nucleolar size increases in small cells and decreases in large cells. We demonstrate that this seemingly contradictory result arises from maternal loading of a fixed number rather than a fixed concentration of nucleolar components, which condense into nucleoli only above a threshold concentration. Our results suggest that the physics of phase transitions can dictate whether an organelle assembles, and, if so, its size, providing a mechanistic link between organelle assembly and cell size. Since the nucleolus is known to play a key role in cell growth, this biophysical readout of cell size could provide a novel feedback mechanism for growth control.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.