Maturation rates and transition probabilities of cycling cells.

The kinetics of cell cycling are analyzed in terms of equations incorporating a DNA synthesis rate continuously varying along S phase and a portion of G1 phase through which the cells advance in a probabilistic fashion. These equations are solved analytically for several steady state as well as nonsteady state populations of cells. Experiments are described illustrating how these results can be applied to obtain both the rate of DNA synthesis at each point along S-phase and the probability of transition through the nondeterministic portion of G1.