Random transitions, size control, and inheritance in cell population dynamics (Q1096560)

A critical review of literature models of cell population dynamics yields the classification into random transition, size control and inherited property models. In an attempt to unify all these approaches, a generalized model is derived from first principles and analyzed. Existence and uniqueness of the solutions are proved. The model offers definitions of generation time distributions, alpha and beta curves, sister-sister and mother-daughter correlations, etc., which can be specialized to more specific models and thus may enable interesting comparisons between approaches previously labeled as incomparable. Other considerations include variants of the model for symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions. Three examples of applications are offered: (1) General transition probability model; (2) Size control model; (3) The model of unequal division of RNA.