Exploring the Upper Limits of Vacuole Size scaling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Isabella Ibalio
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: Mark Chan
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or budding yeast, is a model organism in cellular biology and highly valued for observing organelle structure and dynamics. Vacuoles typically grow faster than the cell they occupy, but the limitation of this scaling relationship remains unclear. This study investigates how cell growth impacts vacuole morphology, and the size scaling relationship between the cells and vacuoles. An optogenetic strain was used to stop cell budding, causing the cells to grow larger than normal and allows for better observation of organelle growth and dynamics in relation to cell size. Cells were grown up to 24 hours, with images taken every four hours. After 24 hours, cells displayed one large vacuole with many small ones, likely due to increased vacuole fusion and fission as the cell is enlarged. These findings align with expectations that vacuole size scales with cell size, highlighting the potential to enhance organelle size and function, with broader implications to use cells as chemical factories for biosynthetic applications. This work contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between organelle size and function, offering new possibilities for advancements in cellular biology.