Asymmetric Division

Near zero asymmetry, growth advantage increases quadratically. Small asymmetry can yield a compounding population-level advantage over long timescales. The benefit of small asymmetry is limited over a few generations but can matter across hundreds or thousands of generations. Observed E. coli daughter-cell doubling-time asymmetries are usually small, around 1-5%. Under a zero-sum tradeoff, asymmetry keeps the average daughter doubling time equal to the symmetric-division doubling time.