Figure 1. Consequences of a gene knockdown on the cell cycle and cell fate.

These effects can be observed (directly or indirectly) by imaging cells with silenced genes following a mitotic time-lapse screening assay. Cells may directly be affected from a loss-of-function of a gene and die (cell death), they may enter mitosis and die before completion of mitosis (cell death in mitotic arrest) or may undergo mitotic slippage followed by interphase arrest or cell death [23].