Scale invariance of cell size fluctuations in starving bacteria

Abstract In stable environments, cell size fluctuations are thought to be governed by simple physical principles, as suggested recent findings of scaling properties. Here, developing a microfluidic device and using E. coli , we investigate the response against starvation. By abruptly switching non-nutritious medium, find that distribution changes but satisfies scale invariance: rescaled is kept unchanged determined growth condition before These underpinned model based on cycle. Further, numerically determine range validity invariance over various characteristic times starvation process, violation for slow Our results, combined with theoretical arguments, suggest relevance multifork replication, which helps retaining information cycle states may thus result in invariance.