Figure 1

A hypothetical model showing why the progeny of large and small daughter cells eventually return to the mean population size over time if large and small cells grow and progress through the cell cycle at the same rates (after Brooks [10]). The initial division is unequal and produces one cell of 10 mass units and one cell of 1 mass unit; the subsequent eight divisions of the progeny cells are equal. Following the first division, each cell grows 5.5 mass units in each cycle. Thus, the initial small daughter cell grows to 6.5 units before it divides to produce two daughters of about 3.2 units each, while the initial large daughter cell grows to 15.5 units before it divides to produce two daughters of about 7.8 units.