An active contour ImageJ plugin to monitor daughter cell size in 3D during cytokinesis

Abstract

Controlling relative daughter cell size is key during cytokinesis. Uncontrolled size asymmetries can lead to aneuploidy and division failure. At the same time, precisely regulated size asymmetries are of crucial importance in many divisions during embryonic development. Therefore, being able to monitor daughter cell size is important in cytokinesis studies. However, freely available tools allowing to effectively measure the size of daughter cells in three dimensions during cytokinesis are missing. Here, we describe an open-access plugin for ImageJ or Fiji based on an active contour surface representation of the cells. Our method provides a user-friendly and accurate way to monitor the size of the two daughter cells throughout cytokinesis.

Keywords: 3D segmentation; Active contour; Asymmetric division; Cell volume; Cytokinesis; Fiji plugin; ImageJ plugin; Interactive segmentation; Supervised segmentation.