Robust classification of cell cycle phase and biological feature extraction by image-based deep learning

Mol Biol Cell. 2020 Jun 15;31(13):1346-1354. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E20-03-0187. Epub 2020 Apr 22.

Abstract

Across the cell cycle, the subcellular organization undergoes major spatiotemporal changes that could in principle contain biological features that could potentially represent cell cycle phase. We applied convolutional neural network-based classifiers to extract such putative features from the fluorescence microscope images of cells stained for the nucleus, the Golgi apparatus, and the microtubule cytoskeleton. We demonstrate that cell images can be robustly classified according to G1/S and G2 cell cycle phases without the need for specific cell cycle markers. Grad-CAM analysis of the classification models enabled us to extract several pairs of quantitative parameters of specific subcellular features as good classifiers for the cell cycle phase. These results collectively demonstrate that machine learning-based image processing is useful to extract biological features underlying cellular phenomena of interest in an unbiased and data-driven manner.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Cycle*
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Nucleus / classification
  • Cell Nucleus / physiology
  • Deep Learning*
  • Golgi Apparatus / physiology
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Mice
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Microtubules / physiology
  • NIH 3T3 Cells