We are grateful to Dr. Kozo Tanaka of Tohoku University, Japan for sharing HeLa cells stably expressing mCherry-Histone H2B and GFP-&#945;-tubulin. This work was supported by an NCI grant to DV (R00CA178188) and by start-up funds from Northwestern University.

1. Double Thymidine Block and Release: Reagent Preparations
<ol>
	<li>Make 500 mL Dulbecco&#39;s modified Eagle medium (DMEM) medium supplemented with 10% FBS, penicillin, and streptomycin.</li>
	<li>Make 100 mM stock of thymidine in sterile water and store in aliquots at -80 &#176;C.</li>
</ol>
2. Protocol for Fixed Cell Imaging of Mitotic Progression (Figure 1A)
<ol>
	<li>On day 1, seed ~2 x 105 HeLa cells into the wells of a 6-well plate with a cover...

<ol>
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Pharmacol. 72 (11), 1396-1404 (2006).</li><li>Amon, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Synchronization+procedures.">Synchronization procedures.</a> Methods Enzymol. 351, 457-467 (2002).</li><li>Cooper, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Rethinking+synchronization+of+mammalian+cells+for+cell+cycle+analysis.">Rethinking synchronization of mammalian cells for cell cycle analysis.</a> Cell Mol. Life Sci. 60 (6), 1099-1106 (2003).</li><li>Whitfield, M. L., Sherlock, G., Saldanha, A. J., Murray, J. I., Ball, C. A., Alexander, K. E., Matese, J. C., Perou, C. M., Hurt, M. M., Brown, P. 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G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Recruitment+of+the+human+Cdt1+replication+licensing+protein+by+the+loop+domain+of+Hec1+is+required+for+stable+kinetochore-microtubule+attachment.">Recruitment of the human Cdt1 replication licensing protein by the loop domain of Hec1 is required for stable kinetochore-microtubule attachment.</a> Nat. Cell Biol. 14 (6), 593-603 (2012).</li><li>Garcia, M., Westley, B., Rochefort, H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=5-Bromodeoxyuridine+specifically+inhibits+the+synthesis+of+estrogen-induced+proteins+in+MCF7+cells.">5-Bromodeoxyuridine specifically inhibits the synthesis of estrogen-induced proteins in MCF7 cells.</a> Eur. J. Biochem. 116 (2), 297-301 (1981).</li><li>Bostock, C. J., Prescott, D. M., Kirkpatrick, J. B. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=An+evaluation+of+the+double+thymidine+block+for+synchronizing+mammalian+cells+at+the+G1-S+border.">An evaluation of the double thymidine block for synchronizing mammalian cells at the G1-S border.</a> Exp. Cell Res. 68 (1), 163-168 (1971).</li><li>Martin-Lluesma, S., Stucke, V. M., Nigg, E. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Role+of+Hec1+in+spindle+checkpoint+signaling+and+kinetochore+recruitment+of+Mad1/Mad2.">Role of Hec1 in spindle checkpoint signaling and kinetochore recruitment of Mad1/Mad2.</a> Science. 297, 2267-2270 (2002).</li><li>Brouwers, N., Mallol Martinez, N., Vernos, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Role+of+Kif15+and+its+novel+mitotic+partner+KBP+in+K-fiber+dynamics+and+chromosome+alignment.">Role of Kif15 and its novel mitotic partner KBP in K-fiber dynamics and chromosome alignment.</a> PLoS One. 12 (4), e0174819 (2017).</li><li>Dou, Z., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Dynamic+localization+of+Mps1+kinase+to+kinetochores+is+essential+for+accurate+spindle+microtubule+attachment.">Dynamic localization of Mps1 kinase to kinetochores is essential for accurate spindle microtubule attachment.</a> Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 112 (33), E4546-E4555 (2015).</li><li>Chan, Y. W., Jeyaprakash, A. A., Nigg, E. A., Santamaria, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Aurora+B+controls+kinetochore-microtubule+attachments+by+inhibiting+Ska+complex-KMN+network+interaction.">Aurora B controls kinetochore-microtubule attachments by inhibiting Ska complex-KMN network interaction.</a> J Cell Biol. 196 (5), 563-571 (2012).</li></ol>

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interest.

The most critical advantage of double thymidine synchronization is that it provides an increased sample size of mitotic cells in a short time window with many of these cells entering mitosis in unison, thus also enabling analyses of chromosome alignment, bipolar spindle formation, and chromosome segregation with much higher efficiency.
Many regulatory protein complexes and signaling pathways are devoted to ensuring normal progression through mitosis and deregulation of this process may led to ...

In the cell cycle, cells undergo a series of highly regulated and temporally controlled events for the accurate duplication of their genome and proliferation. In mammals, the cell cycle consists of interphase and M-phase. In interphase, which consists of three stages- G1, S, and G2, the cell duplicates its genome and undergoes growth that is necessary for normal cell cycle progression1,2. In the M-phase, which consists of mitosis (prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase) and cytokinesis, a parental cell produces two genetically identical daughter cells. In mitosis, sister chromatids of duplicated genome are condensed (prophase) and are captured at their kinetochores by microtubules of the assembled mitotic spindle (prometaphase), that drives their alignment at the metaphase plate (metaphase) followed by their equal segregation when sister chromatids are split toward and transported to opposite spindle poles (anaphase). The two daughter cells are physically separated by the activity of an actin-based contractile ring (telophase and cytokinesis). The kinetochore is a specialized proteinaceous structure which assembles at the centromeric region of chromatids and serve as attachment sites for spindle microtubules. Its main function is to drive chromosome capture, alignment, and aid in correcting improper spindle microtubule attachment, while mediating the spindle assembly checkpoint to maintain the fidelity of chromosome segregation3,4.
The technique of cell synchronization serves as an ideal tool for understanding the molecular and structural events involved in cell cycle progression. This approach has been used to enrich cell populations at specific phases for various types of analyses, including profiling of gene expression, analyses of cellular biochemical processes, and detection of subcellular localization of proteins. Synchronized mammalian cells can be used not only for the study of individual gene products, but also for approaches involving analysis of whole genomes including microarray analysis of gene expression5, miRNA expression patterns6, translational regulation7, and proteomic analysis of protein modifications8. Synchronization can also be used to study the effects of gene expression or protein knock-down or knock-out, or of chemicals on cell cycle progression.
Cells can be synchronized at the different stages of the cell cycle. Both physical and chemical methods are widely used for cell synchronization. The most important criteria for cell synchronization are that synchronization should be noncytotoxic and reversible. Because of the potential adverse cellular consequences of synchronizing cells by pharmacological agents, chemical-dependent methods can be advantageous for studying key cell cycle events. For example, hydroxyurea, amphidicolin, mimosine, and lovastatin, can be used for cell synchronization at G1/S phase but, because of their effect on the biochemical pathways they inhibit, they activate cell cycle checkpoint mechanisms and kill an important fraction of the cells9,10. On the other hand, feedback inhibition of DNA replication by adding thymidine to the growth media, known as &#34;thymidine block&#34;, can arrest the cell cycle at certain points11,12,13. Cells can also be synchronized at G2/M phase by treating with nocodazole and RO-33069,14.Nocodazole, which prevents microtubule assembly, has a relatively high cytotoxicity. Moreover, nocodazole-arrested cells can return to interphase precociously by mitotic slippage. Double thymidine block arrest cells at G1/S phase and after release from the block, cells are found to proceed synchronously through G2 and into mitosis. The normal progression of the cell cycle for cells released from thymidine block can be observed under high resolution confocal microscopy by either cell fixation or live imaging. The effect of perturbation of mitotic proteins can be studied specifically when cells enter and proceed through mitosis after release from double thymidine block. Cdt1, a multifunctional protein, is involved in DNA replication origin licensing in the G1 phase and is also required for kinetochore microtubule attachments during mitosis15. To study the function of Cdt1 during mitosis, one needs to adopt a method that avoids the effect of its depletion on replication licensing during G1 phase, while at the same time effecting its depletion specifically during the G2/M phase only. Here, we present detailed protocols based on the double thymidine block to study the mitotic role of proteins performing multiple functions during different stages of the cell cycle by both fixed and live-cell imaging.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>DMEM (1X)</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>11965-092</td>
			<td>Store at 4 degree C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DPBS (1X)</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>14190-144</td>
			<td>Store at 4 degree C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Leibovitz&#8217;s (1X) L-15 medium</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>21083-027</td>
			<td>Store at 4 degree C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Serum reduced medium (Opti-MEM)</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>319-85-070</td>
			<td>Store at 4 degree C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin and streptomycin</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>15070-063 (Pen Strep)</td>
			<td>1:1000 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dharmafect2</td>
			<td>GE Dharmacon</td>
			<td>T-2002-02</td>
			<td>Store at 4 degree C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Thymidine</td>
			<td>MP Biomedicals LLC</td>
			<td>103056</td>
			<td>Dissolved in sterile distiled water</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cdt1 siRNA</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Ref 10</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hec1 siRNA</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Ref 13</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HeLa cells expressing GFP-H2B</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HeLa cells expressing GFP-&#945;-tubulin and mCherry H2B</td>
			<td>Generous gift from Dr. Kozo Tanaka of Tohoku university, Japan</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Formaldehyde solution</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich Corporation</td>
			<td>F8775</td>
			<td>Toxic, needs caution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DAPI</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich Corporation</td>
			<td>D9542</td>
			<td>Toxic, needs caution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mouse anti-&#945;-tubulin</td>
			<td>Santa Cruz Biotechnology</td>
			<td>Sc32293</td>
			<td>1:1000 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rabbit ant-Zwint1</td>
			<td>Bethyl</td>
			<td>A300-781A</td>
			<td>1:400 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mouse anti-phospho-&#947;H2AX (Ser139)</td>
			<td>Upstate Biotechnology</td>
			<td>05-626, clone JBW301</td>
			<td>1:300 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Alexa 488</td>
			<td>Jackson ImmunoResearch</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>1:250 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rodamine Red-X</td>
			<td>Jackson ImmunoResearch</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>1:250 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BioLite 6 well multidish</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>130184</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>35MM Glass bottom dish</td>
			<td>MatTek Corporation</td>
			<td>P35GCOL-1.5-14-C</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nikon Eclipse TiE inverted microscope</td>
			<td>Nikon Instruments</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Spinning disc for confocal</td>
			<td>Yokagawa</td>
			<td>CSU-X1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultra 888 EM-CCD Camera</td>
			<td>Andor</td>
			<td>iXon Ultra EMCCD</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>4 wave length laser</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Incubation System for Microscopes</td>
			<td>Tokai Hit</td>
			<td>TIZB</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NIS-elements software</td>
			<td>Nikon Instruments</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

combining mitotic cell synchronization and high resolution confocal microscopy to study the role of multifunctional cell cycle proteins during mitosis

Study of the various regulatory events of the cell cycle in a phase-dependent manner provides a clear understanding about cell growth and division. The synchronization of cell populations at specific stages of the cell cycle has been found to be very useful in such experimental endeavors. Synchronization of cells by treatment with chemicals that are relatively less toxic can be advantageous over the use of pharmacological inhibitory drugs for the study of consequent cell cycle events and to obtain specific enrichment of selected mitotic stages. Here, we describe the protocol for synchronizing human cells at different stages of the cell cycle, including both in S phase and M phase with a double thymidine block and release procedure for studying the functionality of mitotic proteins in chromosome alignment and segregation. This protocol has been extremely useful for studying the mitotic roles of multifunctional proteins which possess established interphase functions. In our case, the mitotic role of Cdt1, a protein critical for replication origin licensing in G1 phase, can be studied effectively only when G2/M-specific Cdt1 can be depleted. We describe the detailed protocol for depletion of G2/M-specific Cdt1 using double thymidine synchronization. We also explain the protocol of cell fixation, and live cell imaging using high resolution confocal microscopy after thymidine release. The method is also useful for analyzing the function of mitotic proteins under both physiological and perturbed conditions such as for Hec1, a component of the Ndc80 complex, as it enables one to obtain large sample sizes of mitotic cells for fixed and live cell analysis as we show here.&#160;&#160;

Study of mitotic progression and microtubule stability in cells fixed after release from double thymidine block 
Cdt1 is involved in licensing of DNA replication origins in the G1 phase. It is degraded during S phase but re-accumulates in G2/M phase. To study its role in mitosis, the endogenous Cdt1 needs to be depleted specifically at the G/M phase using the most suitable cell synchronization technique, the double thymidine block15. Cells wer...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Combining Mitotic Cell Synchronization and High Resolution Confocal Microscopy to Study the Role of Multifunctional Cell Cycle Proteins During Mitosis at JoVE

Combining Mitotic Cell Synchronization and High Resolution Confocal Microscopy to Study the Role of Multifunctional Cell Cycle Proteins During Mitosis

We present a protocol for double thymidine synchronization of HeLa cells followed by analysis using high resolution confocal microscopy. This method is key to obtaining large number of cells that proceed synchronously from S phase to mitosis, enabling studies on mitotic roles of multifunctional proteins which also possess interphase functions.

Study of the various regulatory events of the cell cycle in a phase-dependent manner provides a clear understanding about cell growth and division. The ...

The overall goal of this procedure is to use double thymidine synchronization and high-resolution confocal microscopy to study the mitotic roles of multifunctional proteins that may possess critical interphase functions. This method can help answer key questions in the cell biology field, about how to delineate the normal functions of proteins involved in cell cycle and mitosis. The main advantages of this technique are that, the cells can maintain their normal physiological behavior and that this method is also very easy to perform.Demonstrating this procedure will be Dr.Mohammed Amin, a post-doc from my laboratory, who is an expert in the use of this method. For fixed cell imaging of mitotic cell progression, begin by seeding approximately two times 10 to the fifth HeLa cells into each well of a six-well plate, containing a 70%ethanol and UV sterilized cover slip and two milliliters of DMEM medium. After 24 hours in a cell culture incubator, block the cells with two milliliters of freshly diluted thymidine and fresh medium per well, and return the plate to the incubator for another 18 hours.The next day, wash the cells two times with two milliliters of PBS, and one time with fresh 37 degree Celsius medium. Return the cells to the incubator for nine hours to release the cells from the block, followed by the addition of another two milliliters of thymidine-supplemented medium per well. After the second blocking incubation, wash the cells two times with two milliliters of PBS, and one time with two milliliters of fresh 37 degree Celsius medium, and add 100 nanomolar of freshly prepared siRNA to the appropriate wells.After nine to 10 hours, aspirate the supernatant and fix the cells onto the cover slips with four percent paraformaldehyde for 20 minutes at room temperature. After washing with PBS, permeabilize the fixed cells with 0.5%detergent for 10 minutes at room temperature, followed by two five-minute washes in PBS. Block the cells with one percent BSA in PBS for one hour at room temperature.Then label the cells with 50 microliters of the primary antibodies of interest for one hour at 37 degrees Celsius. At the end of the incubation, wash the cells three times in PBS, and label them with 50 microliters of the appropriate secondary antibodies of interest. After one hour at room temperature, wash the cells two times in PBS for five minutes each wash, and label the cells with DAPI for five minutes at room temperature.Follow the DAPI staining with two five-minute washes in PBS and use the appropriate mounting medium to mount the cover slips on individual clear microscope slides. Then, using 60 or 100 X 1.4 numerical aperture plan apochromatic DIC oil immersion objectives mounted on an inverted high resolution confocal microscope equipped with an appropriate camera, acquire images of the immunostained proteins in Z stacks of 0.2 micrometer thickness. For live cell imaging of mitotic cell progression, seed approximately 0.5 to one times 10 to the fifth HeLa cells stably expressing mCherry H2B and GFP alpha-tubulin into 35-milliliter glass-bottom dishes containing 1.5 milliliters of DMEM medium.Grow the cells in a cell culture incubator for 24 hours. Then, thymidine block the cells two times as just demonstrated, this time washing the cells two times with two milliliters of PBS and one time with one milliliter of pre-warmed DMEM medium at the end of each thymidine block and treating the cells with siRNA after the first block during the first thymidine washout. Grow the cells in fresh pre-warmed Leibovitz's medium, supplemented with 10%FBS and 20 millimolar HEPES for eight hours to release the cells from the second block.Then place the first plate in the temperature-controlled chamber of a high-resolution confocal microscope, and use the 60 X objective and bright field imaging to bring the cells into focus. When the cells are visible, manually adjust the plate position to the region of choice and use the image acquisition software to set the laser power and exposure, image acquisition parameters, and experiment duration period. Select the appropriate GFP and mCherry filters and acquire pulsed transmitted light and fluorescence images every 10 minutes for up to 16 hours, to obtain time-lapse images of the mitosis process.Nine hours after release from the double thymidine block, acquire the images at 12 one-micrometer separated z-planes. Then analyze the images by tracking individual mitotic cells and use the appropriate source software to assemble a corresponding movie. Although most of the control and Cdt1 siRNA cells are at the metaphase stage at nine hours post-release from double thymidine block, fixation at 10 hours reveals that most of the Cdt1 siRNA-treated cells are still arrested in late prometaphase, while the control cells enter anaphase and segregate their chromosomes as expected.Cold treatment nine hours after release from double thymidine block facilitates the retention of stable kinetochore microtubules which are relatively less robust in Cdt1-depleted cells compared to those within control-depleted cells. DNA replication origin licensing is not perturbed in Cdt1-or control-depleted cells during the G2-M phase, as these cells were not found to induce the accumulation of phosphoralated gamma H2AX, a marker for DNA damage, during the subsequent G2 phase. Cdt1 siRNA transfection of asynchronous cultures, however, induces the accumulation of phospho gamma H2AX positive foci possibly due to the DNA damage induced by improper DNA replication licensing.After nuclear envelope breakdown, normal cells enter mitosis and undergo anaphase onset to exit from mitosis within about 30 to 60 minutes. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Hec1, a key kinetochore protein required for robust kinetochore microtubule attachment formation, however, delays the normal mitotic progression to anaphase onset or exit from mitosis even after several hours of mitosis delay. Once mastered, this technique can be completed in three to four days if it is performed properly.While attempting the procedure, it's important to remember to dissolve the thymidine completely after you thaw it out from the freezer. Following this procedure, other methods like western blotting can be performed to answer additional questions like, what are the expression patterns of proteins of interest during mitosis compared to interphase? After its development, this technique paved the way for researchers in the field of cell biology to explore cancer biogenesis in human cell culture models, and to use high-resolution confocal microscopy to identify the cell cycle related functions of proteins of interest.Don't forget that working with reagents like paraformaldehyde and DAPI can be extremely hazardous and that precautions such as wearing gloves and a lab coat, should always be taken while performing this procedure.

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Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

14.0K vistas.  Northwestern University. The overall goal of this procedure is to use double thymidine synchronization and high-resolution confocal microscopy to study the mitotic roles of multifunctional proteins that may possess critical interphase functions. This method can help answer key questions in the cell biology field, about how to delineate the normal functions of proteins involved in cell cycle and mitosis. The main advantages of this technique are that, the cells can maintain their normal physiological behavior and that...

Video: Combining Mitotic Cell Synchronization and High Resolution Confocal Microscopy to Study the Role of Multifunctional Cell Cycle Proteins During Mitosis