Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userInvestigating the inner structure of focal adhesions with single-molecule localization microscopy
121
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
Cells rely on focal adhesions (FAs) to carry out a variety of important tasks, including motion, environmental sensing, and adhesion to the extracellular matrix. Although attaining a fundamental characterization of FAs is a compelling goal, their extensive complexity and small size, which can be below the diffraction limit, have hindered a full understanding. In this study we have used single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) to investigate integrin $beta$3 and paxillin in rat embryonic fibroblasts growing on two different extracellular matrix-representing substrates (i.e. fibronectin-coated substrates and specifically bio-functionalized nano-patterned substrates). To quantify the substructure of FAs, we developed a method based on expectation maximization of a Gaussian mixture that accounts for localization uncertainty and background. Analysis of our SMLM data indicates that the structures within FAs, characterized as a Gaussian mixture, typically have areas between 0.01 and 1 $mu$m$^2$, contain 10 to 100 localizations, and can exhibit substantial eccentricity. Our approach based on SMLM opens new avenues for studying structural and functional biology of molecular assemblies that display substantial varieties in size, shape, and density.
rate research
Read More
Single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) techniques enable imaging biological samples well beyond the diffraction limit of light, but they vary significantly in their spatial and temporal resolutions. High-order statistical analysis of temporal fluctuations as in superresolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI) also enable imaging beyond diffraction limit, but usually at a lower resolution as compared to SMLM. Since the same data format is acquired for both methods, their algorithms can be applied to the same data set, and thus may be combined synergistically to improve overall imaging performance. Here, we find that SOFI converges much faster than SMLM, provides additive information to SMLM, and can efficiently reject background. We then show how SOFI-assisted SMLM imaging can improve SMLM image reconstruction by rejecting common sources of background, especially under low signal-to-background conditions. The performance of our approach was evaluated using a realistic simulation of fluorescence imaging we developed and further demonstrated on experimental SMLM images of the plasma membrane of activated fixed and live T cells. Our approach significantly enhances SMLM performance under demanding imaging conditions and could set an example for synergizing additional imaging techniques.
Super-resolution microscopy has catalyzed valuable insights into the sub-cellular, mechanistic details of many different biological processes across a wide range of cell types. Fluorescence polarization spectroscopy tools have also enabled important insights into cellular processes through identifying orientational changes of biological molecules typically at an ensemble level. Here, we combine these two biophysical methodologies in a single home-made instrument to enable the simultaneous detection of orthogonal fluorescence polarization signals from single fluorescent protein molecules used as common reporters on the localization of proteins in cellular processes. These enable measurement of spatial location to a super-resolved precision better than the diffraction-limited optical resolution, as well as estimation of molecular stoichiometry based on the brightness of individual fluorophores. In this innovation we have adapted a millisecond timescale microscope used for single-molecule detection to enable splitting of fluorescence polarization emissions into two separate imaging channels for s- and p- polarization signals, which are imaged onto separate halves of the same high sensitivity back-illuminated CMOS camera detector. We applied this fluorescence polarization super-resolved imaging modality to a range of test fluorescent samples relevant to the study of biological processes, including purified monomeric green fluorescent protein, single combed DNA molecules, and protein assemblies and complexes from live Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. Our findings are qualitative but demonstrate promise in showing how fluorescence polarization and super-resolved localization microscopy can be combined on the same sample to enable simultaneous measurements of polarization and stoichiometry of tracked molecular complexes, as well as the translational diffusion coefficient.
Single molecule localization microscopy is widely used in biological research for measuring the nanostructures of samples smaller than the diffraction limit. This study uses multifocal plane microscopy and addresses the 3D single molecule localization problem, where lateral and axial locations of molecules are estimated. However, when we multifocal plane microscopy is used, the estimation accuracy of 3D localization is easily deteriorated by the small lateral drifts of camera positions. We formulate a 3D molecule localization problem along with the estimation of the lateral drifts as a compressed sensing problem, A deep neural network was applied to accurately and efficiently solve this problem. The proposed method is robust to the lateral drifts and achieves an accuracy of 20 nm laterally and 50 nm axially without an explicit drift correction.
We derive approximate equations of motion for excited state dynamics of a multilevel open quantum system weakly interacting with light to describe fluorescence detected single molecule spectra. Based on the Frenkel exciton theory, we construct a model for the chlorophyll part of the LHCII complex of higher plants and its interaction with previously proposed excitation quencher in the form of the lutein molecule Lut 1. The resulting description is valid over a broad range of timescales relevant for single molecule spectroscopy, i.e. from ps to minutes. Validity of these equations is demonstrated by comparing simulations of ensemble and single-molecule spectra of monomeric LHCII with experiments. Using a conformational change of the LHCII protein as a switching mechanism, the intensity and spectral time traces of individual LHCII complexes are simulated, and the experimental statistical distributions are reproduced. Based on our model, it is shown that with reasonable assumptions about its interaction with chlorophylls, Lut 1 can act as an efficient fluorescence quencher in LHCII.
Mechanical loading generally weakens adhesive structures and eventually leads to their rupture. However, biological systems can adapt to loads by strengthening adhesions, which is essential for maintaining the integrity of tissue and whole organisms. Inspired by cellular focal adhesions, we suggest here a generic, molecular mechanism that allows adhesion systems to harness applied loads for self-stabilization under non-equilibrium conditions -- without any active feedback involved. The mechanism is based on conformation changes of adhesion molecules that are dynamically exchanged with a reservoir. Tangential loading drives the occupation of some stretched conformation states out of equilibrium, which, for thermodynamic reasons, leads to association of further molecules with the adhesion cluster. Self-stabilization robustly increases adhesion lifetimes in broad parameter ranges. Unlike for catch-bonds, bond dissociation rates do not decrease with force. The self-stabilization principle can be realized in many ways in complex adhesion-state networks; we show how it naturally occurs in cellular adhesions involving the adaptor proteins talin and vinculin.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
