Abstract:Population of cells, growing under constant conditions, is a mixture of cells at different stages of the cell cycle. To study specific stage of the cell cycle, synchronization methods are required to make cells grow synchronously. Physical or chemical methods can be used to isolate subpopulation of cells at distinct cell cycle stages or to block cells at certain stage. Via synchronization methods, cell population can grow and divide synchronously during the subsequent culture and maintain 2-3 cycles. As a direct and powerful method, cell cycle synchronization attracts great interests of scientists in the field of bacterial cell cycle researches. Although there are many kinds of synchronization methods, different methods have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of the degree of synchronization, yield, ease of operation steps, and the degree of interference to the cell cycle. This paper aims to introduce the cell cycle synchronization methods used in the bacterial cell cycle studies and what advantages or disadvantages they have.