For reasons that remain unclear, despite roughly 4 billion years of cellular evolution, cell theory has only three well-accepted postulates1. I previously proposed the gasocrine, circumiacentium, informatio, conscientia, and discere hypothesis, which state that all cells require gasocrine signaling2, are limited by their environment3, pass information4, require consciousness5, and learn6 respectively. One implication of these hypotheses is the regulation of cell size. It is difficult to interpret the temperature-size rule in aerobic organisms' cells without considering the role of the electron transport chain in mitochondria, mitochondrial temperature, or nutrient availability7,8. The evolutionary origins of the temperature-size rule at a cellular level raise a question. Temperature is just one of the most ancient environmental factors. Since light can also affect the size of some unicellular organisms and their organelles, I propose the light-size rule: cell size can be regulated by light in certain cells. However, this rule faces similar issues to those of the temperature-size rule, as well as the role of the package or sieve effect9,10. Finally, if temperature and light can affect cell size, and if rules for cell size can be made based on those factors, similar rules can be developed for other ancient environmental factors. REFERENCES Hyllner J, Mason C, Wilmut I. Cells: from Robert Hooke to cell therapy—a 350 year journey. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2015; 370:20150320. Anbalagan S. Gasocrine hypothesis - a potential supplement to cell theory. Acta Biochim Pol 2025; 72:15465. Anbalagan S. Circumiacentium hypothesis - a potential supplement to cell theory. Zenodo 2026. Anbalagan S. Informatio hypothesis - a potential supplement to cell theory. Zenodo 2026. Anbalagan S. Conscientia hypotheses - potential supplements to cell theory. Zenodo 2026. Anbalagan S. Discere hypotheses - a potential supplement to cell theory. Zenodo 2026. Atkinson D, Ectotherm life-history responses to developmental temperature. In I. A. Johnston and A. F. Bennett (eds.), Animals and temperature: Phenotypic and evolutionary adaptation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1996; 183–204. Kozlowski J, Czarnoleski M, Danko M. Can optimal resource allocation models explain why ectotherms grow larger in cold? Integr Comp Biol. 2004; 44(6):480-93. Kirk JTO. A theoretical analysis of the contribution of algal cells to the attenuation of light within natural waters. New Phytologist 1975; 75:11–20. Rabinowitch, E.: Photosynthesis and related processes. New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc. 1956; Vol. II.2. 879 pp.
Savani Anbalagan (Fri,) studied this question.
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