Abstract
Populations of cells are almost always heterogeneous in function and fate. To understand the plasticity of cells, it is vital to measure quantitatively and dynamically the molecular processes that underlie cell-fate decisions in single cells. Early events in cell signalling often occur within seconds of the stimulus, whereas intracellular signalling processes and transcriptional changes can take minutes or hours. By contrast, cell-fate decisions, such as whether a cell divides, differentiates or dies, can take many hours or days. Multiparameter experimental and computational methods that integrate quantitative measurement and mathematical simulation of these noisy and complex processes are required to understand the highly dynamic mechanisms that control cell plasticity and fate.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Z. Seymour, C. Harper, A. Adamson, R. Awais, J. Ankers, S. Semprini and J. Cooper for providing data for the figures, as well as the many colleagues who provided suggestions, comments and assistance with the manuscript. Work in our laboratories has been funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grants BBD0107481, BBF0059381, BBE0136001, BBE0042101, BBE0129651, BBF0052611, BBF0053181 and BBF0058061), the Medical Research Council (grant G0500346), the Wellcome Trust (grant 67252), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the BioSim Network of Excellence (part of the European Union's Sixth Framework Programme; grant 005137) and PAPIIT (Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica, Mexico; grant IN223810). We apologize to the authors of the many excellent papers that were omitted because of space limitations.
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Supplementary Movie 1
This movie shows early signalling events. Calcium imaging of pituitary cells (of the GH3 cell line) is shown before and after treatment with thyrotropin-releasing hormone, which was added to the cultured cells one-third of the way into the time series. Fluctuations in the amount of calcium in the cytoplasm over 400 s (at 1 frame s–1) were visualized by using fluo-4 dye (green), which increases in intensity with increasing calcium concentration (see Fig. 2a, which illustrates a short section of the movie after addition of thyrotropin-releasing hormone). (AVI 8190 kb)
Supplementary Movie 2
This movie shows transcription-factor translocation. Fluorescent protein imaging for 579 min of neuroblastoma cells (of the SK-N-AS cell line) treated with tumour-necrosis factor-α is shown. The protein RELA (which is a subunit of the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB) was fused to the fluorescent protein DsRed-Express (red). RELA oscillates between the cytoplasm and the nucleus of cells with a period of about 100 min. Concurrently, the RELA inhibitor IκBα, labelled with enhanced green fluorescent protein (green), shows cycles of synthesis and degradation that have an inverse phase to the cycles of RELA translocation. (AVI 1626 kb)
Supplementary Movie 3
This movie shows transcription analysis. Low-light-level imaging of pituitary cells (of the GH3 cell line) expressing firefly luciferase under the control of the stably transfected promoter of the human prolactin gene is shown. The substrate of luciferase, luciferin, was added to the medium, and images were taken at 15-min intervals over 40 h. Luminescence intensity increases from blue to green to yellow to red. The cycles of transcription are heterogeneous across the cells. (AVI 1573 kb)
Supplementary Movie 4
This movie shows cell division. Imaging of epithelial cells (of the HeLa cell line) by using fluorescent, ubiquitylation-based cell-cycle indicator (FUCCI) technology, over 22 h, is shown. Cells transiently express FUCCI proteins, depending on their differing stability at different phases of the cell cycle: G1 phase (red), S phase (green), G2 phase (reduced green fluorescence) and M phase (no fluorescent signal). Each of the cells in the field of view at the start of the experiment undergoes division. (AVI 3401 kb)
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Spiller, D., Wood, C., Rand, D. et al. Measurement of single-cell dynamics. Nature 465, 736–745 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09232
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