Study reveals mechanisms behind how growing cells maintain their mojo by scaling up biosynthesis

Similar to the way expanding companies increase their work forces, cells must boost their production of internal biomolecules when they grow in size in order to stay healthy. In the 1970s, biologists showed that this scaled-up biosynthesis hinges on faster rates of transcription—the process where genetic blueprints in DNA are copied over to RNA molecules. Yet in the half-century since, the mechanism behind the expedited transcription rates has remained unclear.