Asymmetric cell division safeguards memory CD8 T cell development.

The strength of T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation and asymmetric distribution of fate determinants are both implied to affect T cell differentiation. Here, we uncover asymmetric cell division (ACD) as a safeguard mechanism for memory CD8 T cell generation specifically upon strong TCR stimulation. Using live imaging approaches, we find that strong TCR stimulation induces elevated ACD rates, and subsequent single-cell-derived colonies comprise both effector and memory precursor cells. The abundance of memory precursor cells emerging from a single activated T cell positively correlates with first mitosis ACD. Accordingly, preventing ACD by inhibition of protein kinase Cζ (PKCζ) during the first mitosis upon strong TCR stimulation markedly curtails the formation of memory precursor cells. Conversely, no effect of ACD on fate commitment is observed upon weak TCR stimulation. Our data provide relevant mechanistic insights into the role of ACD for CD8 T cell fate regulation upon different activation conditions.

Open-source personal pipetting robots with live-cell incubation and microscopy compatibility.

Liquid handling robots have the potential to automate many procedures in life sciences. However, they are not in widespread use in academic settings, where funding, space and maintenance specialists are usually limiting. In addition, current robots require lengthy programming by specialists and are incompatible with most academic laboratories with constantly changing small-scale projects. Here, we present the Pipetting Helper Imaging Lid (PHIL), an inexpensive, small, open-source personal liquid handling robot. It is designed for inexperienced users, with self-production from cheap commercial and 3D-printable components and custom control software. PHIL successfully automates pipetting (incl. aspiration) for e.g. tissue immunostainings and stimulations of live stem and progenitor cells during time-lapse microscopy using 3D printed peristaltic pumps. PHIL is cheap enough to put a personal pipetting robot within the reach of most labs and enables users without programming skills to easily automate a large range of experiments.

NfκB signaling dynamics and their target genes differ between mouse blood cell types and induce distinct cell behavior.

Cells can use signaling pathway activity over time (ie, dynamics) to control cell fates. However, little is known about the potential existence and function of signaling dynamics in primary hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Here, we use time-lapse imaging and tracking of single murine HSPCs from green fluorescent protein-p65/H2BmCherry reporter mice to quantify their nuclear factor κB (NfκB) activity dynamics in response to tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin 1ß. We find response dynamics to be heterogeneous between individual cells, with cell type-specific dynamics distributions. Transcriptome sequencing of single cells physically isolated after live dynamics quantification shows activation of different target gene programs in cells with different dynamics. Finally, artificial induction of oscillatory NfκB activity causes changes in granulocyte/monocyte progenitor behavior. Thus, HSPC behavior can be influenced by signaling dynamics, which are tightly regulated during hematopoietic differentiation and enable cell type-specific responses to the same signaling inputs.

Asymmetric organelle inheritance predicts human blood stem cell fate.

Understanding human hematopoietic stem cell fate control is important for its improved therapeutic manipulation. Asymmetric cell division, the asymmetric inheritance of factors during division instructing future daughter cell fates, was recently described in mouse blood stem cells. In human blood stem cells, the possible existence of asymmetric cell division remained unclear because of technical challenges in its direct observation. Here, we use long-term quantitative single-cell imaging to show that lysosomes and active mitochondria are asymmetrically inherited in human blood stem cells and that their inheritance is a coordinated, nonrandom process. Furthermore, multiple additional organelles, including autophagosomes, mitophagosomes, autolysosomes, and recycling endosomes, show preferential asymmetric cosegregation with lysosomes. Importantly, asymmetric lysosomal inheritance predicts future asymmetric daughter cell-cycle length, differentiation, and stem cell marker expression, whereas asymmetric inheritance of active mitochondria correlates with daughter metabolic activity. Hence, human hematopoietic stem cell fates are regulated by asymmetric cell division, with both mechanistic evolutionary conservation and differences to the mouse system.

Synthetic Biology Category Wins the 350th Anniversary Merck Innovation Cup.

Over the past 350 years, Merck has developed science and technology especially in health care, life sciences, and performance materials. To celebrate so many productive years, Merck conducted a special expanded anniversary edition of the Innovation Cup in combination with the scientific conference Curious2018 - Future Insight in Darmstadt, Germany.

Publisher Correction: Asymmetric lysosome inheritance predicts activation of haematopoietic stem cells.

An Amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Asymmetric lysosome inheritance predicts activation of haematopoietic stem cells.

Haematopoietic stem cells self-renew and differentiate into all blood lineages throughout life, and can repair damaged blood systems upon transplantation. Asymmetric cell division has previously been suspected to be a regulator of haematopoietic-stem-cell fate, but its existence has not directly been shown1. In asymmetric cell division, asymmetric fates of future daughter cells are prospectively determined by a mechanism that is linked to mitosis. This can be mediated by asymmetric inheritance of cell-extrinsic niche signals by, for example, orienting the divisional plane, or by the asymmetric inheritance of cell-intrinsic fate determinants. Observations of asymmetric inheritance or of asymmetric daughter-cell fates alone are not sufficient to demonstrate asymmetric cell division2. In both cases, sister-cell fates could be controlled by mechanisms that are independent of division. Here we demonstrate that the cellular degradative machinery-including lysosomes, autophagosomes, mitophagosomes and the protein NUMB-can be asymmetrically inherited into haematopoietic-stem-cell daughter cells. This asymmetric inheritance predicts the asymmetric future metabolic and translational activation and fates of haematopoietic-stem-cell daughter cells and their offspring. Therefore, our studies provide evidence for the existence of asymmetric cell division in haematopoietic stem cells.

Asymmetric division events promote variability in cell cycle duration in animal cells and Escherichia coli.

Asymmetric cell division is a major mechanism generating cell diversity. As cell cycle duration varies among cells in mammalian tissue culture cells, we asked whether their division asymmetry contributes to this variability. We identify among sibling cells an outlier using hierarchical clustering on cell cycle durations of granddaughter cells obtained by lineage tracking of single histone2B-labelled MDCKs. Remarkably, divisions involving outlier cells are not uniformly distributed in lineages, as shown by permutation tests, but appear to emerge from asymmetric divisions taking place at non-stochastic levels: a parent cell influences with 95% confidence and 0.5% error the unequal partitioning of the cell cycle duration in its two progenies. Upon ninein downregulation, this variability propagation is lost, and outlier frequency and variability in cell cycle durations in lineages is reduced. As external influences are not detectable, we propose that a cell-autonomous process, possibly involved in cell specialisation, determines cell cycle duration variability.