Phenotypic Correlates of Genomic DNA Content in Unicellular Eukaryotes and Other Cells

Abstract

Published data on cell size, maximum division rate, and genomic DNA content were compiled for over 70 species of unicellular prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Analysis of these data revealed statistically significant, positive correlations between cell volume and DNA content for both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and between minimum cell doubling time and DNA content for eukaryotes. The relations exhibited by prokaryotes and eukaryotes are different from each other. The doubling time-DNA relation for unicellular eukaryotes is indistinguishable from a similar relation exhibited by plant root cells. Ciliates, which exhibit nuclear dualism, display relations between cell volume and total DNA content and between maximum division rate and micronuclear DNA content which are indistinguishable from those exhibited by uninucleate, unicellular eukaryotes.