Tree of life brought to scale by Jacobs-Wagner Lab.

Examples of biological scaling are everywhere. The paw of a mouse is smaller than the human hand. Our own organs and limbs typically scale with our body size as we develop and grow. 

Scientists at Yale have shown that this same phenomenon exists at the subcellular level in the smallest bacteria, where the size of the nucleoid – the membrane-less region containing the cell’s genes – also scales with the size of a bacterial cell. 

Research in the Jacobs-Wagner Lab shows that the scaling trait was likely present billions of years ago, predating the development of intracellular membrane structures.

For the full story, visit:  https://westcampus.yale.edu/news/tree-life-brought-scale-yale-scientists?