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Modern biology has attained deep knowledge of how cells work, but the mechanisms by which cellular structures assemble and grow to the right size largely remain a mystery. Now, researchers may have found the key in a dynamic agglomeration of molecules inside cells. This structure is called the nucleolus, a part of the cell typically found under a microscope in groups of small black specks, like poppy seeds in a muffin.
The primary function of the nucleolus is to make ribosomes, molecular machines that are crucial to cell growth. The limit of cellular growth and how cells "choose" their eventual size have long been open questions for biologists. Cells with a common function - muscular, neural, etc. - form a uniform size, but how they do so has been unknown. The mechanism by which cells perform this function, and ways in which it goes wrong, also play an important role in many types of disease, including various forms of cancer.Image credit: Brangwynne and Weber
