CELL-CYCLE ANALYSIS IN PHAGOTROPHIC MICROORGANISMS FROM FLOW CYTOMETRIC HISTOGRAMS

Citation
C. Hatzis et al., CELL-CYCLE ANALYSIS IN PHAGOTROPHIC MICROORGANISMS FROM FLOW CYTOMETRIC HISTOGRAMS, Journal of theoretical biology, 186(2), 1997, pp. 131-144
Citations number
41
Categorie Soggetti
Biology Miscellaneous
ISSN journal
00225193
Volume
186
Issue
2
Year of publication
1997
Pages
131 - 144
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-5193(1997)186:2<131:CAIPMF>2.0.ZU;2-0
Abstract
The inability of certain phagotrophic protozoa to phagocytose right be fore and right after cell division was utilized to measure the distrib utions of newborn and dividing cells and obtain information on the kin etics of the cell cycle. A fluorescent microsphere labeling assay was used in conjunction with flow cytometry to identify the non-feeding ce lls and measure their DNA and protein distributions. These distributio ns, which are typically bimodal, were decomposed to the two component distributions by means of a new algorithm, which is based on the assum ption that cells partition their DNA and the remaining cellular materi al evenly at division. The estimated population fractions in the two n on-feeding phases before and after division and the corresponding DNA and protein distributions provide significant information on the kinet ics of the cell cycle. The transient labeling experiments revealed a s ignificant variability in the timing of the pre-division non-feeding p hase with the smaller cells of this subpopulation spending more time i n preparation for division. From the determined distributions of newbo rn and dividing cells, the single-cell growth rates and division proba bilities were also calculated. This type of analysis provides essentia l information for the development of corpuscular, multi-staged cell po pulation models. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.