scholarly journals Quantitative FRET-FLIM-BlaM to Assess the Extent of HIV-1 Fusion in Live Cells

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Irene Carlon-Andres ◽  
Sergi Padilla-Parra

The first steps of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection go through the engagement of HIV envelope (Env) with CD4 and coreceptors (CXCR4 or CCR5) to mediate viral membrane fusion between the virus and the host. New approaches are still needed to better define both the molecular mechanistic underpinnings of this process but also the point of fusion and its kinetics. Here, we have developed a new method able to detect and quantify HIV-1 fusion in single live cells. We present a new approach that employs fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to detect Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) when using the β-lactamase (BlaM) assay. This novel approach allows comparing different populations of single cells regardless the concentration of CCF2-AM FRET reporter in each cell, and more importantly, is able to determine the relative amount of viruses internalized per cell. We have applied this approach in both reporter TZM-bl cells and primary T cell lymphocytes.

2013 ◽  
Vol 203 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cedric Espenel ◽  
Bipul R. Acharya ◽  
Geri Kreitzer

We showed previously that the kinesin-2 motor KIF17 regulates microtubule (MT) dynamics and organization to promote epithelial differentiation. How KIF17 activity is regulated during this process remains unclear. Several kinesins, including KIF17, adopt compact and extended conformations that reflect autoinhibited and active states, respectively. We designed biosensors of KIF17 to monitor its activity directly in single cells using fluorescence lifetime imaging to detect Förster resonance energy transfer. Lifetime data are mapped on a phasor plot, allowing us to resolve populations of active and inactive motors in individual cells. Using this biosensor, we demonstrate that PKC contributes to the activation of KIF17 and that this is required for KIF17 to stabilize MTs in epithelia. Furthermore, we show that EB1 recruits KIF17 to dynamic MTs, enabling its accumulation at MT ends and thus promoting MT stabilization at discrete cellular domains.


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Liu ◽  
Elizabeth J Osterlund ◽  
Xiaoke Chi ◽  
Justin Pogmore ◽  
Brian Leber ◽  
...  

Tumor initiation, progression and resistance to chemotherapy rely on cancer cells bypassing programmed cell death by apoptosis. We report that unlike other pro-apoptotic proteins, Bim contains two distinct binding sites for the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-XL and Bcl-2. These include the BH3 sequence shared with other pro-apoptotic proteins and an unexpected sequence located near the Bim carboxyl-terminus (residues 181–192). Using automated Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy - Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FLIM-FRET) we show that the two binding interfaces enable Bim to double-bolt lock Bcl-XL and Bcl-2 in complexes resistant to displacement by BH3-mimetic drugs currently in use or being evaluated for cancer therapy. Quantifying in live cells the contributions of individual amino acids revealed that residue L185 previously thought involved in binding Bim to membranes, instead contributes to binding to anti-apoptotic proteins. This double-bolt lock mechanism has profound implications for the utility of BH3-mimetics as drugs. ​


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Pelicci ◽  
Alberto Diaspro ◽  
Luca Lanzanò

AbstractChromatin nanoscale architecture in live cells can be studied by Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between fluorescently labeled chromatin components, such as histones. A higher degree of nanoscale compaction is detected as a higher FRET level, since this corresponds to a higher degree of proximity between donor and acceptor molecules. However, in such a system the stoichiometry of the donors and acceptors engaged in the FRET process is not well defined and, in principle, FRET variations could be caused by variations in the acceptor-donor ratio rather than distance. Here we show that a FRET value independent of the acceptor-donor ratio can be obtained by Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) detection of FRET combined with a normalization of the FRET level to a pixel-wise estimation of the acceptor-donor ratio. We use this method to study FRET between two DNA binding dyes staining the nuclei of live cells. We show that acceptor-donor ratio corrected FRET imaging reveals variations of nanoscale compaction in different chromatin environments. As an application, we monitor the rearrangement of chromatin in response to laser-induced micro-irradiation and reveal that DNA is rapidly decompacted, at the nanoscale, in response to DNA damage induction.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 4071-4089 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas J. Kelly ◽  
Sean C. Warren ◽  
Dominic Alibhai ◽  
Sunil Kumar ◽  
Yuriy Alexandrov ◽  
...  

An HCA-FLIM instrument is presented alongside exemplar oligomerisation, intermolecular and intramolecular FRET assays that require robust measurement of small lifetime changes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 3-4
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Carmichael

Many intracellular proteins are catalysts that regulate cellular functions. These catalysts can be assayed to determine their functional state, but untii now it was not possible to simultaneously obtain a functional analysis and spatial data. Tony Ng, Anthony Squire, and others, working in the laboratories of Phillippe Bastiaens and Peter Parker, have combined Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) with Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) to spatially resolve the activation of a protein catalyst within living cells. Their technique was also applied to fixed cells.


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