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Updated: Nov 11, 2025

Manipulation and Analysis of Cell Cycle-Dependent Processes in Budding Yeast
Published on: September 26, 2025
Genetic requirements for cell division in a genomically minimal cell
James F Pelletier1, Lijie Sun2, Kim S Wise2
1Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.
Abstract:
Genomically minimal cells, such as JCVI-syn3.0, offer a platform to clarify genes underlying core physiological processes. Although this minimal cell includes genes essential for population growth, the physiology of its single cells remained uncharacterized. To investigate striking morphological variation in JCVI-syn3.0 cells, we present an approach to characterize cell propagation and determine genes affecting cell morphology. Microfluidic chemostats allowed observation of intrinsic cell dynamics that result in irregular morphologies. A genome with 19 genes not retained in JCVI-syn3.0 generated JCVI-syn3A, which presents morphology similar to that of JCVI-syn1.0. We further identified seven of these 19 genes, including two known cell division genes, ftsZ and sepF, a hydrolase of unknown substrate, and four genes that encode membrane-associated proteins of unknown function, which are required together to restore a phenotype similar to that of JCVI-syn1.0. This result emphasizes the polygenic nature of cell division and morphology in a genomically minimal cell.
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