Data from: A robust and tunable mitotic oscillator in artificial cells

Single-cell analysis is pivotal to deciphering complex phenomena like
heterogeneity, bistability, and asynchronous oscillations, where a
population ensemble cannot represent individual behaviors. Bulk cell-free
systems, despite having unique advantages of manipulation and
characterization of biochemical networks, lack the essential single-cell
information to understand a class of out-of-steady-state dynamics
including cell cycles. Here, by encapsulating Xenopus egg extracts in
water-in-oil microemulsions, we developed artificial cells that are
adjustable in sizes and periods, sustain mitotic oscillations for over 30
cycles, and function in forms from the simplest cytoplasmic-only to the
more complicated ones involving nuclear dynamics, mimicking real cells.
Such innate flexibility and robustness make it key to studying clock
properties like tunability and stochasticity. Our results also highlight
energy as an important regulator of cell cycles. We demonstrate a simple,
powerful, and likely generalizable strategy of integrating strengths of
single-cell approaches into conventional in vitro systems to study complex
clock functions.