flowFit: a Bioconductor package to estimate proliferation in cell-tracking dye studies

Area of Science:

• Cell Biology
• Computational Biology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Tracking dye-based experiments are crucial for studying cell proliferation.
• Quantitative analysis of cell division can be challenging, especially with fused peaks in raw data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce flowFit, an R Bioconductor package for quantitative analysis of cell proliferation.
• To provide an open-source algorithm for deconvoluting tracking dye-based experimental data.

Main Methods:

• flowFit utilizes a mathematical model incorporating peak height, parental population characteristics, and dye dilution.
• The algorithm deconvolutes raw data into subpopulations based on the number of cell divisions (N).

Main Results:

• flowFit was validated through retrospective analysis of published proliferation experiments.
• The package accurately predicts cell percentage per generation in both discernible and non-discernible peak scenarios.

Conclusions:

• flowFit offers a robust, open-source solution for quantitative analysis of cell proliferation.
• The package is applicable to various cell biology research areas requiring deconvolution of tracking dye data, including stem cell research.