Live Cell Fluorescence Microscopy to Observe Essential Processes During Microbial Cell Growth
| Autor: | Matthew Howell, Pamela J. B. Brown, Jeremy J. Daniel |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Bacteria General Immunology and Microbiology Cell division Cell growth General Chemical Engineering General Neuroscience Cell Lipid microdomain DNA replication Biology Microbiology General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Time-lapse microscopy Cell biology 03 medical and health sciences 030104 developmental biology medicine.anatomical_structure Microscopy Fluorescence medicine Fluorescence microscope Nucleoid |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Visualized Experiments. |
| ISSN: | 1940-087X |
| DOI: | 10.3791/56497 |
| Popis: | Core cellular processes such as DNA replication and segregation, protein synthesis, cell wall biosynthesis, and cell division rely on the function of proteins which are essential for bacterial survival. A series of target-specific dyes can be used as probes to better understand these processes. Staining with lipophilic dyes enables the observation of membrane structure, visualization of lipid microdomains, and detection of membrane blebs. Use of fluorescent-d-amino acids (FDAAs) to probe the sites of peptidoglycan biosynthesis can indicate potential defects in cell wall biogenesis or cell growth patterning. Finally, nucleic acid stains can indicate possible defects in DNA replication or chromosome segregation. Cyanine DNA stains label living cells and are suitable for time-lapse microscopy enabling real-time observations of nucleoid morphology during cell growth. Protocols for cell labeling can be applied to protein depletion mutants to identify defects in membrane structure, cell wall biogenesis, or chromosome segregation. Furthermore, time-lapse microscopy can be used to monitor morphological changes as an essential protein is removed and can provide additional insights into protein function. For example, the depletion of essential cell division proteins results in filamentation or branching, whereas the depletion of cell growth proteins may cause cells to become shorter or rounder. Here, protocols for cell growth, target-specific labeling, and time-lapse microscopy are provided for the bacterial plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Together, target-specific dyes and time-lapse microscopy enable characterization of essential processes in A. tumefaciens. Finally, the protocols provided can be readily modified to probe essential processes in other bacteria. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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