Control of the cell division cycle in Chlamydomonas.

In Chlamydomonas, the duration of the cell cycle is determined by timer control of a rate-limiting commitment to divide, and cell size determines whether 2, 4, 8 or 16 daughter cells are formed. Use of different environmental conditions allows an evaluation of metabolic and biosynthetic changes, including tubulin synthesis, as possible controllers of the cell cycle.