Question

Dry weight of macromolecules in a cell is determined by

Answer 1

Molecular biology aims to explain cellular processes in terms of the individual molecular players, resulting in starring roles for certain specific proteins, RNAs and lipids. By way of contrast, a more holistic view of the whole cell or organism was historically the purview of physiology. Recently the latter integrative view has been adopted by systems biology, which completes the circle by returning with the hard-won mechanistic knowledge from molecular biology to a holistic view of the molecular interlinkages that give rise to whole-cell behavior. A critical starting point for thinking globally about the cell is to understand the relative abundance of its different constituents.