Resolving Cell Cycle Speed in One Snapshot with a Live-Cell Fluorescent Reporter

Cell proliferation changes concomitantly with fate transitions during reprogramming, differentiation, regeneration, and oncogenesis. Methods to resolve cell cycle length heterogeneity in real time are currently lacking. Here, we describe a genetically encoded fluorescent reporter that captures live-cell cycle speed using a single measurement. This reporter is based on the color-changing fluorescent timer (FT) protein, which emits blue fluorescence when newly synthesized before maturing into a red fluorescent protein. We generated a mouse strain expressing an H2B-FT fusion reporter from a universally active locus and demonstrate that faster cycling cells can be distinguished from slower cycling ones on the basis of the intracellular fluorescence ratio between the FT’s blue and red states. Using this reporter, we reveal the native cell cycle speed distributions of fresh hematopoietic cells and demonstrate its utility in analyzing cell proliferation in solid tissues. This system is broadly applicable for dissecting functional heterogeneity associated with cell cycle dynamics in complex tissues.