scholarly journals Mapping the 3D genome through high speed single-molecule tracking of functional transcription factors in single living cells

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. M. Wollman ◽  
Erik G. Hedlund ◽  
Sviatlana Shashkova ◽  
Mark C. Leake

AbstractHow genomic DNA is organized within the cell nucleus is a long-standing question. We describe a single-molecule bioimaging method with super-resolution localization precision and very rapid millisecond temporal resolution, coupled to fully quantitative image analysis tools, to help to determine genome organization and dynamics using budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model eukaryotic organism. We utilize astigmatism imaging, a robust technique that enables extraction of 3D position data, on genomically encoded fluorescent protein reporters that bind to DNA. Our relatively straightforward method enables snapshot reconstructions of 3D architectures of single genome conformations directly in single functional living cells.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nehir Banaz ◽  
Jarno Mäkelä ◽  
Stephan Uphoff

AbstractVisualizing and quantifying molecular motion and interactions inside living cells provides crucial insight into the mechanisms underlying cell function. This has been achieved by super-resolution localization microscopy and single-molecule tracking in conjunction with photoactivatable fluorescent proteins. An alternative labelling approach relies on genetically-encoded protein tags with cell-permeable fluorescent ligands which are brighter and less prone to photobleaching than fluorescent proteins but require a laborious labelling process. Either labelling method is associated with significant advantages and disadvantages that should be taken into consideration depending on the microscopy experiment planned. Here, we describe an optimised procedure for labelling Halo-tagged proteins in live Escherichia coli cells. We provide a side-by-side comparison of Halo tag with different fluorescent ligands against the popular photoactivatable fluorescent protein PAmCherry. Using test proteins with different intracellular dynamics, we evaluated fluorescence intensity, background, photostability, and single-molecule localization and tracking results. Capitalising on the brightness and extended spectral range of fluorescent Halo ligands, we also demonstrate high-speed and dual-colour single-molecule tracking.


Author(s):  
Kaushik Inamdar ◽  
Charlotte Floderer ◽  
Cyril Favard ◽  
Delphine Muriaux

HIV-1 assembly is a complex mechanism taking place at the plasma membrane of the host cell. It requires nice spatial and temporal coordination to end up with a full immature virus. Researchers have extensively studied HIV-1 assembly molecular mechanism during the past decades, in order to dissect the respective roles of viral proteins, viral genome and host cell factors. Nevertheless, the time course of the process has been observed in living cells only a decade ago. The very recent revolution of optical microscopy, combining high speed and high spatial resolution now permit to study assemblies and their consequences at the single molecule level within (living) cells. In this review, after a short description of these new approaches, we will show how HIV-1 assembly in cells has been revisited using these advanced super resolution microscopy techniques and how much it could make a bridge in studying assembly from the single molecule to the host cell.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dushyant Mehra ◽  
Santosh Adhikari ◽  
Chiranjib Banerjee ◽  
Elias M. Puchner

The dynamic rearrangement of chromatin is critical for gene regulation, but mapping both the spatial organization of chromatin and its dynamics remains a challenge. Many structural conformations are too small to be resolved via conventional fluorescence microscopy and the long acquisition time of super-resolution PALM imaging precludes the structural characterization of chromatin below the optical diffraction limit in living cells due to chromatin motion. Here we develop a correlative conventional fluorescence and PALM imaging approach to quantitatively map time-averaged chromatin structure and dynamics below the optical diffraction limit in living cells. By assigning localizations to a locus as it moves, we reliably discriminate between bound and searching dCas9 molecules, whose mobility overlap. Our approach accounts for changes in DNA mobility and relates local chromatin motion to larger scale domain movement. In our experimental system, we show that compacted telomeres have a higher density of bound dCas9 molecules, but the relative motion of those molecules is more restricted than in less compacted telomeres. Correlative conventional and PALM imaging therefore improves the ability to analyze the mobility and time-averaged nanoscopic structural features of locus specific chromatin with single molecule precision and yields unprecedented insights across length and time scales.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (11) ◽  
pp. e2019071118
Author(s):  
Ayana Sugizaki ◽  
Keisuke Sato ◽  
Kazuyoshi Chiba ◽  
Kenta Saito ◽  
Masahiko Kawagishi ◽  
...  

Biomolecular assemblies govern the physiology of cells. Their function often depends on the changes in molecular arrangements of constituents, both in the positions and orientations. While recent advancements of fluorescence microscopy including super-resolution microscopy have enabled us to determine the positions of fluorophores with unprecedented accuracy, monitoring the orientation of fluorescently labeled molecules within living cells in real time is challenging. Fluorescence polarization microscopy (FPM) reports the orientation of emission dipoles and is therefore a promising solution. For imaging with FPM, target proteins need labeling with fluorescent probes in a sterically constrained manner, but because of difficulties in the rational three-dimensional design of protein connection, a universal method for constrained tagging with fluorophore was not available. Here, we report POLArIS, a genetically encoded and versatile probe for molecular orientation imaging. Instead of using a direct tagging approach, we used a recombinant binder connected to a fluorescent protein in a sterically constrained manner that can target specific biomolecules of interest by combining with phage display screening. As an initial test case, we developed POLArISact, which specifically binds to F-actin in living cells. We confirmed that the orientation of F-actin can be monitored by observing cells expressing POLArISact with FPM. In living starfish early embryos expressing POLArISact, we found actin filaments radially extending from centrosomes in association with microtubule asters during mitosis. By taking advantage of the genetically encoded nature, POLArIS can be used in a variety of living specimens, including whole bodies of developing embryos and animals, and also be expressed in a cell type/tissue specific manner.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Lena I.E. Harwardt ◽  
Mark S. Schröder ◽  
Yunqing Li ◽  
Sebastian Malkusch ◽  
Petra Freund ◽  
...  

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) orchestrate cell motility and differentiation. Deregulated RTKs may promote cancer and are prime targets for specific inhibitors. Increasing evidence indicates that resistance to inhibitor treatment involves receptor cross-interactions circumventing inhibition of one RTK by activating alternative signaling pathways. Here, we used single-molecule super-resolution microscopy to simultaneously visualize single MET and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) clusters in two cancer cell lines, HeLa and BT-20, in fixed and living cells. We found heteromeric receptor clusters of EGFR and MET in both cell types, promoted by ligand activation. Single-protein tracking experiments in living cells revealed that both MET and EGFR respond to their cognate as well as non-cognate ligands by slower diffusion. In summary, for the first time, we present static as well as dynamic evidence of the presence of heteromeric clusters of MET and EGFR on the cell membrane that correlates with the relative surface expression levels of the two receptors.


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