How do Prokaryotes enlarge their membranes ?

[Widdekind]

Immediately after cell division, in Prokaryotes, the two daughter cells are half the original, pre-division, cell size. Yet, cells stay the same size, generation after generation, without continually 'dividing down' to ever smaller sizes. So, cells must enlarge their cell membranes (and their 'armor plate' cell walls), by about a factor of two, between immediately after the last cell division, to immediately before the next.

 

How do cells grow their membranes (and walls) ??

[Widdekind]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_membrane

 

Cell membranes contain a variety of biological molecules, notably lipids and proteins. Material is incorporated into the membrane, or deleted from it, by a variety of mechanisms... Although the concentration of membrane components in the aqueous phase is low (stable membrane components have low solubility in water), there is an exchange of molecules between the lipid and aqueous phases.

[J2014]

In E.coli new phospholipids are synthesised from dihydroxyacetone phosphate, which is it self made from fructose 1,6-bisphosphate.

http://www.annualrev...7.030502.090851

Essentially cells grow their membranes through the metabolism of sugers.

Edited May 12, 2011 by JohnG

[CharonY]

Yes, basically the synthesize and incorporate new lipids, hydrolyse and enlarge their peptidoglycan layer to allow growth, rearrange their overall cytoskeleton and increase their biomass. Only after that do they divide again.

[Basi]

I think what's most fascinating about this is not the how do they do it (which we already know almost certainly) but why do they do it? What prompts them to do it? In my last semester of biochemistry (1 year ago or so) we read an article on chemical changes that happen when the proportion of cytosol:organelle changes. If you google scholar cytosol:organelle proportions you'll get a lot of fascinating reads.