Live Cell Imaging of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe Sexual Life Cycle

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is an invaluable model system for studying the principles that drive sexual differentiation and the meiotic cell division cycle. We describe a simple protocol for microscopic observation of the entire sexual life cycle that can be adapted to focus on specific stages of sexual differentiation. After growth to exponential phase in a nitrogen-rich medium, cell cultures are switched to a nitrogen-deprived medium until the population is enriched for the specific stage of the sexual lifecycle to be studied. Cells are then mounted in easily constructed customized agarose pad chambers for imaging.