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* These authors contributed equally
Time-lapse microscopy is a valuable tool for studying meiosis in budding yeast. This protocol describes a method that combines cell-cycle synchronization, time-lapse microscopy, and conditional depletion of a target protein to demonstrate how to study the function of a specific protein during meiotic chromosome segregation.
Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy has revolutionized the understanding of meiotic cell-cycle events by providing temporal and spatial data that is often not seen by imaging fixed cells. Budding yeast has proved to be an important model organism to study meiotic chromosome segregation because many meiotic genes are highly conserved. Time-lapse microscopy of meiosis in budding yeast allows the monitoring of different meiotic mutants to show how the mutation disrupts meiotic processes. However, many proteins function at multiple points in meiosis. The use of loss-of-function or meiotic null mutants can therefore disrupt an early process, blocking or disturbing the later process and making it difficult to determine the phenotypes associated with each individual role. To circumvent this challenge, this protocol describes how the proteins can be conditionally depleted from the nucleus at specific stages of meiosis while monitoring meiotic events using time-lapse microscopy. Specifically, this protocol describes how the cells are synchronized in prophase I, how the anchor away technique is used to deplete proteins from the nucleus at specific meiotic stages, and how time-lapse imaging is used to monitor meiotic chromosome segregation. As an example of the usefulness of the technique, the kinetochore protein Ctf19 was depleted from the nucleus at different time points during meiosis, and the number of chromatin masses was analyzed at the end of meiosis II. Overall, this protocol can be adapted to deplete different nuclear proteins from the nucleus while monitoring the meiotic divisions.
Time-lapse fluorescence microcopy is a valuable tool for studying the dynamics of meiotic chromosome segregation in budding yeast1,2. Budding yeast cells can be induced to undergo meiosis through starvation of key nutrients3. During meiosis, cells undergo one round of chromosome segregation followed by two divisions to create four meiotic products that are packaged into spores (Figure 1). Individual cells can be visualized throughout each stage of meiosis, which generates spatial and temporal data that can be easily missed by fixed-cell imaging. This protocol shows how combining time-lapse fluorescence microscopy with two previously established methods, the inducible NDT80 system (NDT80-in) and the anchor away technique, can be used to study the function of specific proteins in distinct meiotic stages.
The NDT80-in system is a powerful tool for meiotic cell cycle synchronization that relies on the inducible expression of the middle meiosis transcription factor NDT804,5. NDT80 expression is required for prophase I exit6,7. With the NDT80-in system, NDT80 is under the control of the GAL1-10 promoter in cells expressing the Gal4 transcription factor fused to an estrogen receptor (Gal4-ER)4,5. Because Gal4-ER only enters the nucleus when bound to β-estradiol, NDT80-in cells arrest in prophase I in the absence of β-estradiol, which allows the synchronization of cells in prophase I (Figure 1). β-estradiol addition promotes the translocation of the Gal4-ER transcription factor into the nucleus, where it binds GAL1-10 to drive expression of NDT80, leading to synchronous entry into the meiotic divisions. Although time-lapse microscopy can be performed without synchronization, the advantage of using synchronization is the ability to add an inhibitor or a drug while cells are at a specific stage of meiosis.
The anchor away technique is an inducible system by which a protein can be depleted from the nucleus with the addition of rapamycin8. This technique is ideal for studying nuclear proteins during cell division in budding yeast because yeast cells undergo closed mitosis and meiosis, in which the nuclear envelope does not break down. Furthermore, this technique is very useful for proteins that have multiple functions throughout meiosis. Unlike for deletions, mutant alleles, or meiotic null alleles, the removal of a target protein from the nucleus at a specific stage does not compromise target protein activity at earlier stages, allowing for a more accurate interpretation of results. The anchor away system utilizes the shuttling of ribosomal subunits between the nucleus and cytoplasm that occurs upon ribosomal maturation8. To deplete the target protein from the nucleus, the target protein is tagged with the FKBP12-rapamycin-binding domain (FRB) in a strain in which the ribosomal subunit Rpl13A is tagged with FKBP12. Without rapamycin, FRB and FKBP12 do not interact, and the FRB-tagged protein remains in the nucleus. Upon rapamycin addition, the rapamycin forms a stable complex with FKBP12 and FRB, and the complex is shuttled out of the nucleus due to the interaction with Rpl13A (Figure 1). To prevent cell death upon rapamycin addition, cells harbor the tor1-1 mutation of the TOR1 gene. Additionally, these cells contain fpr1Δ, a null allele of the S. cerevisiae FKBP12 protein, which prevents endogenous Fpr1 from out-competing Rpl13A-FKBP12 for FRB and rapamycin binding. The anchor away background mutations, tor1-1 and fpr1Δ, do not affect meiotic timings or chromosome segregation2.
To demonstrate the usefulness of this technique, the kinetochore protein Ctf19 was depleted at different timepoints throughout meiosis. Ctf19 is a component of the kinetochore that is dispensable in mitosis but required for proper chromosome segregation in meiosis9,10,11,12,13. In meiosis, the kinetochore is shed in prophase I, and Ctf19 is important for kinetochore re-assembly9,14. For this protocol, cells with the NDT80-in system were synchronized, and the anchor away technique was used to deplete the target protein Ctf19 from the nucleus before and after the release from prophase I, and after meiosis I chromosome segregation (Figure 1). This protocol can be adapted to deplete other proteins of interest at any stage of meiosis and mitosis.
1. Preparation of necessary materials
2. Sporulation of yeast cells
3. Depletion of target protein from the nucleus using the anchor away technique
4. Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy
5. Analysis of chromatin segregation
To monitor chromatin segregation, histone protein Htb2 was tagged with mCherry. In prophase I, the chromatin appears as a single Htb2 mass. After homologous chromosomes segregate in the first meiotic division, the chromatin appears as two distinct masses (Figure 3A). After the sister chromatids segregate, the chromatin appears as four masses. If some chromosomes fail to attach to spindle microtubules, additional masses can be seen after meiosis I or meiosis II.
Th...
This protocol combines the NDT80-in system to synchronize cells, the anchor away technique to deplete proteins from the nucleus, and fluorescence time-lapse microscopy to image budding yeast cells during meiosis. The NDT80-in system is a method for meiotic cell cycle synchronization that utilizes a prophase I arrest and release4,8. Although individual cells will vary slightly in the amount of time spent in each of the subsequent meiotic stages, ...
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
We thank the Light Microscopy Imaging Center at Indiana University. This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (GM105755).
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
β-estradiol | Millipore Sigma | E8875 | Make 1mM stocks in 95% EtOH |
0.22 uM Threaded Bottle-top Filter | Millipore Sigma | S2GPT02RE | |
100% EtOH | Fisher Scientific | 22-032-601 | |
10X PBS | Fisher Scientific | BP399500 | Dilute 1:10 to use as solvent for ConA |
24 mm x 50 mm coverslip No. 1.5 | VWR North American | 48393241 | |
25 mm x 75 mm microscope slides | VWR North American | 48300-026 | |
Adenine hemisulfate salt | Millipore Sigma | A9126 | To supplement SC, SCA, and 1% Kac |
Bacto Agar | BD | 214030 | |
Concanavialin A | Mllipore Sigma | C2010 | Make as 1mg/mL in 1X PBS |
CoolSNAP HQ2 CCD camera | Photometrics | Used in Section 4.3 | |
D-glucose | Fisher Scientific | D16-10 | |
Difco Yeast Nitrogen Base w/o Amino Acids | BD | 291920 | |
Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) | Millipore Sigma | D5879 | |
Eclipse Ti2 inverted-objective micrscope | Nikon | Used in Section 4.4 | |
Fiji | NIH | Download from https://fiji.sc/ | |
GE Personal DeltaVision Microscope | Applied Precision | Used in Section 4.3 | |
L-Tryptophan | Millipore Sigma | T0254 | To supplement SC, SCA, and 1% Kac |
Modeling Clay | Crayola | 2302880000 | To secure coverslip in slide holder |
NIS-Elements AR 5.30.04 Imaging Software | Nikon | Used in Section 4.4 | |
ORCA-Fustion BT Camera | Hamamatsu | C15440-20UP | Used in Section 4.4 |
Plastic pipette tip holder | Dot Scientific | LTS1000-HR | Cut a 4 square x 4 square section of the rack portion of this product. |
Pottassium Acetate | Fisher Scientific | BP264 | |
Rapamycin | Fisher Scientific | BP29631 | Make 1mg/mL stocks in DMSO |
Silicone Sealant | Aqueon | 100165001 | Also known as aquarium glue. |
SoftWorx7.0.0 Imaging Software | Applied Precision | Used in Section 4.3 | |
Synthetic Complete Mixture (Kaiser) | Formedium | DSCK2500 | |
Type N immersion oil | Nikon | MXA22166 |
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