Measuring DNA content in live cells by fluorescence microscopy

Cecil J Gomes,Charles W Wolgemuth,Jesse D Martinez,Sara M Centuori,Michael W Harman

doi:10.1186/s13008-018-0039-z

Cecil J Gomes, Charles W Wolgemuth + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13008-018-0039-z

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Abstract

BackgroundLive-cell fluorescence microscopy (LCFM) is a powerful tool used to investigate cellular dynamics in real time. However, the capacity to simultaneously measure DNA content in cells being tracked over time remains challenged by dye-associated toxicities. The ability to measure DNA content in single cells by means of LCFM would allow cellular stage and ploidy to be coupled with a variety of imaging directed analyses. Here we describe a widely applicable nontoxic approach for measuring DNA content in live cells by fluorescence microscopy. This method relies on introducing a live-cell membrane-permeant DNA fluorophore, such as Hoechst 33342, into the culture medium of cells at the end of any live-cell imaging experiment and measuring each cell’s integrated nuclear fluorescence to quantify DNA content. Importantly, our method overcomes the toxicity and induction of DNA damage typically caused by live-cell dyes through strategic timing of adding the dye to the cultures; allowing unperturbed cells to be imaged for any interval of time before quantifying their DNA content. We assess the performance of our method empirically and discuss adaptations that can be implemented using this technique.ResultsPresented in conjunction with cells expressing a histone 2B-GFP fusion protein (H2B-GFP), we demonstrated how this method enabled chromosomal segregation errors to be tracked in cells as they progressed through cellular division that were later identified as either diploid or polyploid. We also describe and provide an automated Matlab-derived algorithm that measures the integrated nuclear fluorescence in each cell and subsequently plots these measurements into a cell cycle histogram for each frame imaged. The algorithm’s accurate assessment of DNA content was validated by parallel flow cytometric studies.ConclusionsThis method allows the examination of single-cell dynamics to be correlated with cellular stage and ploidy in a high-throughput fashion. The approach is suitable for any standard epifluorescence microscope equipped with a stable illumination source and either a stage-top incubator or an enclosed live-cell incubation chamber. Collectively, we anticipate that this method will allow high-resolution microscopic analysis of cellular processes involving cell cycle progression, such as checkpoint activation, DNA replication, and cellular division.

Highlights

Live-cell fluorescence microscopy (LCFM) is a powerful tool used to investigate cellular dynamics in real time
Traditional methods for examining DNA content by microscopy have relied on cellular fixation, which is incompatible with tracking cells over time
The cytotoxicity and phototoxicity associated with the use of supravital dyes often result in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis [8, 9]. These dyes have limited use in long-term LCFM applications and should be employed sensibly in acute studies examining cell cycle progression or apoptosis as their cytotoxic effects cannot be ignored. These limitations have made quantifying DNA content in LCFM applications challenging, yet this capacity would allow for cell cycle staging and DNA content to be coupled with any variety of cellular dynamics obtained by LCFM

Summary

Introduction

Live-cell fluorescence microscopy (LCFM) is a powerful tool used to investigate cellular dynamics in real time. To overcome the limitations brought upon by cellular fixation, membrane-permeant DNA fluorophores were designed to stain DNA stoichiometrically in live-cells (supravital staining), enabling both the quantification of DNA content and the ability to track the movement of chromosomes over time. These dyes have limited use in long-term LCFM applications and should be employed sensibly in acute studies examining cell cycle progression or apoptosis as their cytotoxic effects cannot be ignored These limitations have made quantifying DNA content in LCFM applications challenging, yet this capacity would allow for cell cycle staging and DNA content to be coupled with any variety of cellular dynamics obtained by LCFM

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