The Expandables: Cracking the Staphylococcal Cell Wall for Expansion Microscopy

Expansion Microscopy (ExM) is a novel tool improving the resolution of fluorescence microscopy by linking the sample into a hydrogel that gets physically expanded in water. Previously, we have used ExM to visualize the intracellular Gram-negative pathogens Chlamydia trachomatis, Simkania negevensis, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Gram-positive bacteria have a rigid and thick cell wall that impedes classic expansion strategies. Here we developed an approach, which included a series of enzymatic treatments resulting in isotropic 4× expansion of the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. We further demonstrate the suitability of the technique for imaging of planktonic bacteria as well as endocytosed, intracellular bacteria at a spatial resolution of approximately 60 nm with conventional confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Nanoscale imaging of bacterial infections by sphingolipid expansion microscopy

Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables super-resolution imaging of proteins and nucleic acids on conventional microscopes. However, imaging of details of the organization of lipid bilayers by light microscopy remains challenging. We introduce an unnatural short-chain azide- and amino-modified sphingolipid ceramide, which upon incorporation into membranes can be labeled by click chemistry and linked into hydrogels, followed by 4× to 10× expansion. Confocal and structured illumination microscopy (SIM) enable imaging of sphingolipids and their interactions with proteins in the plasma membrane and membrane of intracellular organelles with a spatial resolution of 10–20 nm. As our functionalized sphingolipids accumulate efficiently in pathogens, we use sphingolipid ExM to investigate bacterial infections of human HeLa229 cells by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Simkania negevensis with a resolution so far only provided by electron microscopy. In particular, sphingolipid ExM allows us to visualize the inner and outer membrane of intracellular bacteria and determine their distance to 27.6 ± 7.7 nm.

Nanoscale imaging of bacterial infections by sphingolipid expansion microscopy

Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables super-resolution imaging of proteins and nucleic acids on conventional microscopes. However, imaging of details of the organization of lipid bilayers by light microscopy remains challenging. We introduce an azide- and amino-modified sphingolipid ceramide, which upon incorporation into membranes can be labeled by click chemistry and linked into hydrogels, followed by 4x to 10x expansion. Confocal and structured illumination microscopy (SIM) enabled imaging of sphingolipids and their interactions with proteins in the membrane of intracellular organelles with a spatial resolution of 10-20 nm. Because sphingolipids accumulated efficiently in pathogens we used sphingolipid ExM to investigate bacterial infections of human HeLa229 cells by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Simkania negevensis with a resolution so far only provided by electron microscopy. In particular, sphingolipid ExM allowed us to visualize the inner and outer membrane of intracellular bacteria and determine their distance to 27.6 ± 7.7 nm.