ABSTRACT:
The ability to regulate body size is a conserved feature of living systems. In multicellular organisms this involves close co-ordination of growth within and across multiple tissues/organs as well as sensitive mechanisms to monitor final body size and proportions. Multicellular organisms are composed of individual units called cells and at the level of individual cells; growth is a carefully coordinated and monitored process. Environmental conditions including nutrient availability are sensed and this information is conveyed to the cellular machinery that regulates macromolecular biosynthesis whose biochemical activity underpins growth. The output of cellular biosynthesis is also carefully monitored such that there is tight control on the extent and timing of growth during animal development. I will discuss the genetic basis of growth control with an emphasis on information transfer systems that operate in this context using illustrative examples from our recent work.
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