Cell growth, cell division and cell size homeostasis in Swiss 3T3 cells.

By separating large and small 3T3 cells we show here that cell growth (in volume) after stimulation from quiescence is not 'autocatalytic'. Rather, large cells grow significantly more slowly, in relative terms, than small cells. It follows that 3T3 cells do not require a size control mechanism operating at the level of division timing in order to achieve cell size homeostasis.