The stain can be applied to live, detergent-permeabilized or fixed cells for quantification of their distribution among the three main phases of the cell cycle (G 0 /G 1, S and G 2 /M).

it must grow and make copies of all the organelles such as mitochondria and ribosomes. The cell must also replicate the chromosomes in the nucleus, then it can divide by mitosis.

Recent research suggests, however, that this is an oversimplification and that chromosomes may actually occupy specific territories within the nucleus ... part of the cell cycle.