2026-10-14T04:20:15Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33661623 2026-09-12T10:48:38Z category_4 category_13 category_14 category_873 category_734 category_931 category_64 portal_87 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Benchmarking three simple DNA staining-based image metrics for live-cell tracking of chromatin organization Minwoo Kang (14304098) Aidan Tomas Cabral (24830220) Manasi Sawant (13776849) Hawa Racine Thiam (10866687) Biochemistry Genetics Molecular Biology Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Information Systems not elsewhere classified Cancer Chromatin chromatin reorganization DNA staining image analysis mitosis NETosis nucleus <p>Quantifying chromatin-state dynamics in living cells remains challenging, in part because most methods require fixation or cell lysis. Here, we introduce two simple DNA image-derived metrics - Diffuse Signal Index (DSI)and 1-Gini - and benchmark them against the coefficient of variation (CV) as fixation-free readouts of chromatin reorganization. Leveraging the pronounced compact-to-decompact chromatin transition of NETosis, we show that all three metrics track progressive chromatin reorganization, with DSI providing the strongest trajectory-level discrimination between NETing and non-NETing cells. All three metrics also correlate with ATAC-see-based chromatin accessibility measurement in fixed cells, supporting their biological interpretability. In dividing cells, the metrics capture mitotic chromatin compaction and post-mitotic decompaction, demonstrating applicability in diverse biological processes. Together, these results provide a practical framework for extracting readouts of chromatin reorganization from routine live-cell DNA staining. We also provide NucMetrics, an open-source ImageJ/Fiji macro toolset for easily computing CV, DSI and 1-Gini.</p> 2026-09-12T10:48:38Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.33661623.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Benchmarking_three_simple_DNA_staining-based_image_metrics_for_live-cell_tracking_of_chromatin_organization/33661623 CC BY 4.0