Single Live Cell Monitoring of Protein Turnover Reveals Intercellular Variability and Cell-Cycle Dependence of Degradation Rates

Abstract

Cells need to reliably control their proteome composition to maintain homeostasis and regulate growth. How protein synthesis and degradation interplay to control protein expression levels remains unclear. Here, we combined a tandem fluorescent timer and pulse-chase protein labeling to disentangle how protein synthesis and degradation control protein homeostasis in single live mouse embryonic stem cells. We discovered substantial cell-cycle dependence in protein synthesis rates and stabilization of a large number of proteins around cytokinesis. Protein degradation rates were highly variable between cells, co-varied within individual cells for different proteins, and were positively correlated with synthesis rates. This suggests variability in proteasome activity as an important source of global extrinsic noise in gene expression. Our approach paves the way toward understanding the complex interplay of synthesis and degradation processes in determining protein levels of individual mammalian cells.

Keywords: fluorescence microscopy; live-cell imaging; mathematical modeling; protein degradation; protein synthesis; single cells; tandem fluorescent timer.