High-content phenotyping reveals Golgi dynamics and their role in cell cycle regulation

TL;DR

A new imaging method reveals how Golgi dynamics and cilia changes are linked to cell cycle regulation, particularly during the G0/G1 transition.

Contribution

The study introduces an interpretable image-based phenotyping pipeline that uncovers novel Golgi-cilia dynamics linked to cell cycle regulation.

Findings

The pipeline detects both prominent and subtle morphological changes in organelles like the Golgi and cilia.

Golgi dispersion and ciliary persistence during the G0/G1 transition are linked to Aurora kinase A (AURKA) activity.

The method provides a reliable tool for profiling organelle dynamics during cell cycle progression.

Abstract

Cao, Peng, and Yang et al. present a high-content image-based phenotyping pipeline for quantitative analysis of organelle morphology. The interpretable feature-based method detects both prominent and subtle phenotypic changes and uncovers Golgi-cilia dynamics associated with the G0/G1 transition and AURKA activity.

Recent advances in quantitative bioimage analysis have enabled detailed analyses of cellular and subcellular morphological features, enhancing our understanding of cellular functions. Here, we introduce an image-based phenotyping pipeline designed for the comprehensive analysis of dynamic organelle morphology, particularly the Golgi apparatus and cilia, during cell cycle progression. Our approach emphasizes interpretable feature extraction, enabling detection of both prominent and subtle morphological changes. By using well-characterized morphological dynamics of intracellular structures as benchmarks, we demonstrated that our method can reliably detect established phenotypic changes and serves as a valid tool for quantitative profiling. Further investigation of the G0/G1 transition revealed an unexplored link between Golgi dynamics and ciliary disassembly. Specifically, inhibition of the G0/G1 transition correlated with ciliary persistence and unique Golgi dispersion, involving Aurora kinase A (AURKA). Our results thus indicate an association of Golgi morphology with cell cycle reentry and ciliary dynamics, underscoring the value of our profiling method in studying cellular regulation in health and disease.

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