细胞形态中最根本的特征是大小，它确定了所有细胞生物过程的尺度。生长、形态和功能在细胞生物学中必须紧密联系，但我们经常不理解其中潜在的分子机制，也不理解它们的具体功能。在这里，我们回顾了在酵母菌、动物和植物中确定调节细胞大小的分子机制以及理解细胞大小调节功能方面的进展。越来越清楚的是，细胞大小调节机制与生物合成的基本机制密切相关，以及生物合成如何与细胞大小成比例地缩放或不缩放。最后，我们强调最近发现的异常细胞大小调节与细胞衰老之间的因果关系及其对癌症治疗的影响。

The most fundamental feature of cellular form is size, which sets the scale of all cell biological processes. Growth, form, and function are all necessarily linked in cell biology, but we often do not understand the underlying molecular mechanisms nor their specific functions. Here, we review progress toward determining the molecular mechanisms that regulate cell size in yeast, animals, and plants, as well as progress toward understanding the function of cell size regulation. It has become increasingly clear that the mechanism of cell size regulation is deeply intertwined with basic mechanisms of biosynthesis, and how biosynthesis can be scaled (or not) in proportion to cell size. Finally, we highlight recent findings causally linking aberrant cell size regulation to cellular senescence and their implications for cancer therapies.