scholarly journals Barriers to Diffusion in Cells: Visualization of Membraneless Particles in the Nucleus

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonel Malacrida ◽  
Per Niklas Hedde ◽  
Belen Torrado ◽  
Enrico Gratton
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Function ◽  
Phase Separation ◽  
Pair Correlation Function ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Pair Correlation ◽  
Live Cells ◽  
Supramolecular Organization ◽  
Transient Nature ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Green Fluorescent

ABSTRACT Transient barriers are fundamental to cell supramolecular organization and assembly. Discontinuities between spaces can be generated by a physical barrier but also by thermodynamic barriers achieved by phase separation of molecules. However, because of the transient nature and the lack of a visible barrier, the existence of phase separation is difficult to demonstrate experimentally. We describe an approach based on the 2-dimensional pair correlation function (2D-pCF) analysis of the spatial connectivity in a cell. The educational aim of the article is to present both a model suitable for explaining diffusion barrier measurements to a broad range of courses and examples of biological situations. If there are no barriers to diffusion, particles could diffuse equally in all directions. In this situation the pair correlation function introduced in this article is independent of the direction and is uniform in all directions. However, in the presence of obstacles, the shape of the 2D-pCF is distorted to reflect how the obstacle position and orientation change the flow of molecules. In the example shown in this article, measurements of diffusion of enhanced green fluorescent protein moving in live cells show the lack of connectivity at the nucleolus surface for shorter distances. We also observe a gradual increase in the connectivity for longer distances or times, presumably because of molecular trajectories around the nucleolus.

scholarly journals Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis: New Insights from Localization Studies

2005 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk-Jan Scheffers ◽  
Mariana G. Pinho
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacterial Cell ◽  
Cell Shape ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Live Cells ◽  
Cell Wall Synthesis ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Bacterial Cell Shape

SUMMARY In order to maintain shape and withstand intracellular pressure, most bacteria are surrounded by a cell wall that consists mainly of the cross-linked polymer peptidoglycan (PG). The importance of PG for the maintenance of bacterial cell shape is underscored by the fact that, for various bacteria, several mutations affecting PG synthesis are associated with cell shape defects. In recent years, the application of fluorescence microscopy to the field of PG synthesis has led to an enormous increase in data on the relationship between cell wall synthesis and bacterial cell shape. First, a novel staining method enabled the visualization of PG precursor incorporation in live cells. Second, penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs), which mediate the final stages of PG synthesis, have been localized in various model organisms by means of immunofluorescence microscopy or green fluorescent protein fusions. In this review, we integrate the knowledge on the last stages of PG synthesis obtained in previous studies with the new data available on localization of PG synthesis and PBPs, in both rod-shaped and coccoid cells. We discuss a model in which, at least for a subset of PBPs, the presence of substrate is a major factor in determining PBP localization.

scholarly journals Elucidating Invisible Barriers and Obstacles to Molecular Diffusion in Live Cells by the Spatial Pair-Correlation Function: A Connectivity View of the Cell

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 166a
Author(s):  
Leonel S. Malacrida ◽  
Per Niklas Hedde ◽  
Suman Ranjit ◽  
Francesco Cardarelli ◽  
Enrico Gratton
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Function ◽  
Pair Correlation Function ◽  
Molecular Diffusion ◽  
Pair Correlation ◽  
Live Cells

scholarly journals Stabilization of Polar Localization of a Chemoreceptor via Its Covalent Modifications and Its Communication with a Different Chemoreceptor

2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (22) ◽  
pp. 7647-7654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Shiomi ◽  
Satomi Banno ◽  
Michio Homma ◽  
Ikuro Kawagishi
Keyword(s):  
Histidine Kinase ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Adaptor Protein ◽  
Molecular Assembly ◽  
Covalent Modification ◽  
Polar Localization ◽  
Receptor Localization ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Covalent Modifications ◽  
Green Fluorescent

ABSTRACT In the chemotaxis of Escherichia coli, polar clustering of the chemoreceptors, the histidine kinase CheA, and the adaptor protein CheW is thought to be involved in signal amplification and adaptation. However, the mechanism that leads to the polar localization of the receptor is still largely unknown. In this study, we examined the effect of receptor covalent modification on the polar localization of the aspartate chemoreceptor Tar fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP). Amidation (and presumably methylation) of Tar-GFP enhanced its own polar localization, although the effect was small. The slight but significant effect of amidation on receptor localization was reinforced by the fact that localization of a noncatalytic mutant version of GFP-CheR that targets to the C-terminal pentapeptide sequence of Tar was similarly facilitated by receptor amidation. Polar localization of the demethylated version of Tar-GFP was also enhanced by increasing levels of the serine chemoreceptor Tsr. The effect of covalent modification on receptor localization by itself may be too small to account for chemotactic adaptation, but receptor modification is suggested to contribute to the molecular assembly of the chemoreceptor/histidine kinase array at a cell pole, presumably by stabilizing the receptor dimer-to-dimer interaction.

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