Quantitative nuclear DNA content and cell cycle analysis of a mixotrophic dinoflagellate by image cytometry

Author(s):  
Erik L. J. E. Broemsen ◽  
Allen R. Place ◽  
Matthew W. Parrow

Many components of cell and nuclear size and mass are correlated with nuclear DNA content in plants, as also are the durations and rates of such developmental processes as mitosis and meiosis. It is suggested that the multiple effects of the mass of nuclear DNA which affect all cells and apply throughout the life of the plant can together determine the minimum generation time for each species. The durations of mitosis and of meiosis are both positively correlated with nuclear DNA content and, therefore, species with a short minimum generation time might be expected to have a shorter mean cell cycle time and mean meiotic duration, and a lower mean nuclear DNA content, than species with a long mean minimum generation time. In tests of this hypothesis, using data collated from the literature, it is shown that the mean cell cycle time and the mean meiotic duration in annual species is significantly shorter than in perennial species. Furthermore, the mean nuclear DNA content of annual species is significantly lower than for perennial species both in dicotyledons and monocotyledons. Ephemeral species have a significantly lower mean nuclear DNA content than annual species. Among perennial monocotyledons the mean nuclear DNA content of species which can complete a life cycle within one year (facultative perennials) is significantly lower than the mean nuclear DNA content of those which cannot (obligate perennials). However, the mean nuclear DNA content of facultative perennials does not differ significantly from the mean for annual species. It is suggested that the effects of nuclear DNA content on the duration of developmental processes are most obvious during its determinant stages, and that the largest effects of nuclear DNA mass are expressed at times when development is slowest, for instance, during meiosis or at low temperature. It has been suggested that DNA influences development in two ways, directly through its informational content, and indirectly by the physical-mechanical effects of its mass. The term 'nucleotype' is used to describe those conditions of the nucleus which effect the phenotype independently of the informational content of the DNA. It is suggested that cell cycle time, meiotic duration, and minimum generation time are determined by the nucleotype. In addition, it may be that satellite DNA is significant in its nucleotypic effects on developmental processes.


2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milene Miranda Praça ◽  
Carlos Roberto Carvalho ◽  
Carolina Ribeiro Diniz Boaventura Novaes

Previous flow cytometry (FCM) analyses delivered nearly equal mean values of nuclear 2C DNA content for Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden and E. urophylla S. T. Blake (1.33 pg and 1.34 pg, respectively), whereas E. globulus Labill. presented distinct mean values (1.09, 1.13 and 1.40). These differences have been attributed to the different methodological approach, utilised plant cultivar and presence of intrinsic metabolic compounds that affect fluorochrome fluorescence. In the present study, a FCM and image cytometry (ICM) design, following international consensus criteria, were adopted to reassess the nuclear DNA contents of the above-mentioned Eucalyptus species. Statistical analyses revealed either similar or discrepant nuclear DNA contents, depending on the standard species used and whether FCM or ICM was employed. Our results demonstrated that 2C DNA values obtained by FCM and ICM were most uniform when Solanum lycopersicum was used as a standard. Moreover, the values obtained for E. grandis and E. urophylla were close, but differed as much as 24.63% in relation to previous data, and E. globulus proportionally varied up to 25%. New DNA content values are suggested for these eucalypt species.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1030-1039
Author(s):  
Damian J. Matuszewski ◽  
Carolina Wählby ◽  
Cecilia Krona ◽  
Sven Nelander ◽  
Ida-Maria Sintorn

Image-based analysis is an increasingly important tool to characterize the effect of drugs in large-scale chemical screens. Herein, we present image and data analysis methods to investigate population cell-cycle dynamics in patient-derived brain tumor cells. Images of glioblastoma cells grown in multiwell plates were used to extract per-cell descriptors, including nuclear DNA content. We reduced the DNA content data from per-cell descriptors to per-well frequency distributions, which were used to identify compounds affecting cell-cycle phase distribution. We analyzed cells from 15 patient cases representing multiple subtypes of glioblastoma and searched for clusters of cell-cycle phase distributions characterizing similarities in response to 249 compounds at 11 doses. We show that this approach applied in a blind analysis with unlabeled substances identified drugs that are commonly used for treating solid tumors as well as other compounds that are well known for inducing cell-cycle arrest. Redistribution of nuclear DNA content signals is thus a robust metric of cell-cycle arrest in patient-derived glioblastoma cells.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Marciniak ◽  
M. Olszewska ◽  
R. J. Osiecka ◽  
J. Białas

Among four species of <i>Angiospermae</i> with known nuclear DNA content (<i>Cucurbita pepo</i> - 2.6 pg, <i>Helianthus annuus</i> - 12.0 pg, <i>Vicia faba</i> — 38.0 pg, and <i>Tulipa kaufmanniana</i> - 93.7 pg) the cell growth in the intermitotic period of the cell cycle has been observed to be the fastest in <i>Vicia faba</i>, slower in <i>Helianthus annuus</i> and the slowest in <i>Cucurbita pepo</i> and <i>Tulipa kaufmanniana</i>.


1991 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
YVONNE BHAUD ◽  
JEAN-MARIE SALMON ◽  
MARIE-ODILE SOYER-GOBILLARD

The complete cell cycle of the dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii Biecheler 1938 was observed in vivo in a synchronized heterogeneous population, after DAPI staining of DNA. In a given population, the relative nuclear DNA content in each class of cell was measured using a new numerical image-analysis method that takes into account the total fluorescence intensity (FI), area (A) and shape factor (SF). The visible degree of synchronization of the population was determined from the number of cells with a nuclear content of 1C DNA at ‘synchronization’, time 0. One method of synchronization (method 1), based on the adhesiveness of the cysts, gave no better than 50% synchronization of the population; method 2, based on swimming cells released from cysts cultured on solid medium, gave 73% of cells with the same nuclear DNA content. A scatter plot of data for FI versus A in the first few hours after time 0 showed that the actual degree of synchronization of the population was lower. The length of the C. cohnii cell cycle determined in vivo by light microscopy was 10, 16 or 24 h for vegetative cells giving two, four or eight daughter cells, respectively. Histograms based on the FI measurements showed that in an initially synchronized population observed for 20 h, the times for the first cell cycle were: G1 phase, 6 h; S phase, 1 h 30 min; G2+M, 1h 30 min, with the release of vegetative cells occurring 1 or 2h after the end of cytokinesis. The times for the second cell cycle were G1+S, 3h; G2+M, 2h. FI and A taken together, suggested that the S phase is clearly restricted, as in higher eukaryotes. A and SF, taken together, showed that the large nuclear areas were always in cysts with two or four daughter cells. FI and SF, taken together, showed that the second S phase always occurred after completion of the first nuclear division. Our data concerning the course of the cell cycle in C. cohnii are compared with those from earlier studies, and the control of the number of daughter cells is discussed; this does not depend on the ploidy of the mother cell.


Development ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 311-336
Author(s):  
Julia C. Chisholm ◽  
Martin H. Johnson ◽  
Paul D. Warren ◽  
Tom P. Fleming ◽  
Susan J. Pickering

We have attempted to reduce the developmental heterogeneity amongst populations of mouse blastocysts by synchronizing embryos to the first visible signs of blastocoel formation. Using embryos timed in this way, we have examined the extent of variation of inside and outside cell number and of inside cell size, nuclear DNA content and developmental potential, between and within embryos of a similar age postcavitation. The overall impression gained is one of wide heterogeneity in inside:outside cell number ratios and in cell cycling and its relation to cavitation among embryos of similar age postcavitation. However, the simplest explanation of our results suggests that cavitation generally begins at a time when most outside cells are in their sixth developmental cell cycle and that outside cells, as a population, are a little ahead of inside cells in their cell cycling. Additionally we present evidence that, within at least some individual inner cell masses (ICM), there is intraembryo variation in the time at which inside cell developmental potential becomes restricted.


2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Dufer ◽  
Marie-France Poupon ◽  
Sonia Yatouji

There is a constant need of features able to characterize potentially metastatic cells among the heterogeneous cell subpopulations which constitute a tumor. Image cytometry of metastatic tumor cells give rise to variable results, partly because of a heterogeneous origin of cells, or potential drug effects. The aim of this work was to characterize nuclear changes observed in metastatic cell clones issuedin vitrofrom the same parental cell population The nuclear phenotypes of 6 cell sublines isolated from a rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line and differing in their metastatic ability were evaluated by image cytometry on Feulgen‐stained preparations. Densitometric [5], geometric [3] and textural [9] features were computed from each nuclear image. For each cell subline, a metastatic score, ranging from 0 to 10, was calculated on the basis ofin vitroinvasivity data, by measuring the number of pulmonary metastases observed after s.c. graft of tumor cells in rats. Data obtained were compared to karyotype, growth characteristics, and oncogene expressions of cell lines. The nuclear DNA content, the chromosome numbers, the cell sublines doubling times, and the distribution of cells within the cell cycle appear unrelated with this score. On the contrary, increase in metastatic ability is accompanied by changes in chromatin pattern as assessed by textural features. Progressive increase in chromatin condensation can be observed in cell sublines with increasing metastatic score. These results were confirmed by an unsupervised multivariate partitioning of rhabdomyosarcoma cells which identified two separate subsets whose distributions within the analyzed cell lines correlate with their metastatic ability. These data suggest that, in rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell sublines, metastatic ability could be associated with nuclear morphological changes at the level of chromatin texture.


Cytometry ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naining Wang ◽  
Yi Pan ◽  
Thomas Heiden ◽  
Bernhard Tribukait

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document