Near-infrared STED nanoscopy with an engineered bacterial phytochrome.

The near infrared (NIR) optical window between the cutoff for hemoglobin absorption at 650 nm and the onset of increased water absorption at 900 nm is an attractive, yet largely unexplored, spectral regime for diffraction-unlimited super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (nanoscopy). We developed the NIR fluorescent protein SNIFP, a bright and photostable bacteriophytochrome, and demonstrate its use as a fusion tag in live-cell microscopy and STED nanoscopy. We further demonstrate dual color red-confocal/NIR-STED imaging by co-expressing SNIFP with a conventional red fluorescent protein.

Live-cell multiplane three-dimensional super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging.

Super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI) provides an elegant way of overcoming the diffraction limit in all three spatial dimensions by computing higher-order cumulants of image sequences of blinking fluorophores acquired with a classical widefield microscope. Previously, three-dimensional (3D) SOFI has been demonstrated by sequential imaging of multiple depth positions. Here we introduce a multiplexed imaging scheme for the simultaneous acquisition of multiple focal planes. Using 3D cross-cumulants, we show that the depth sampling can be increased. The simultaneous acquisition of multiple focal planes significantly reduces the acquisition time and thus the photobleaching. We demonstrate multiplane 3D SOFI by imaging fluorescently labelled cells over an imaged volume of up to 65 × 65 × 3.5 µm(3) without depth scanning. In particular, we image the 3D network of mitochondria in fixed C2C12 cells immunostained with Alexa 647 fluorophores and the 3D vimentin structure in living Hela cells expressing the fluorescent protein Dreiklang.

Coordinate-targeted and coordinate-stochastic super-resolution microscopy with the reversibly switchable fluorescent protein Dreiklang.

Diffraction-unlimited far-field super-resolution fluorescence (nanoscopy) methods typically rely on transiently transferring fluorophores between two states, whereby this transfer is usually laid out as a switch. However, depending on whether this is induced in a spatially controlled manner using a pattern of light (coordinate-targeted) or stochastically on a single-molecule basis, specific requirements on the fluorophores are imposed. Therefore, the fluorophores are usually utilized just for one class of methods only. In this study we demonstrate that the reversibly switchable fluorescent protein Dreiklang enables live-cell recordings in both spatially controlled and stochastic modes. We show that the Dreiklang chromophore entails three different light-induced switching mechanisms, namely a reversible photochemical one, off-switching by stimulated emission, and a reversible transfer to a long-lived dark state from the S1 state, all of which can be utilized to overcome the diffraction barrier. We also find that for the single-molecule-based stochastic GSDIM approach (ground-state depletion followed by individual molecule return), Dreiklang provides a larger number of on-off localization events as compared to its progenitor Citrine. Altogether, Dreiklang is a versatile probe for essentially all popular forms of live-cell fluorescence nanoscopy.

Two-color RESOLFT nanoscopy with green and red fluorescent photochromic proteins.

Up to now, all demonstrations of reversible saturable optical fluorescence transitions (RESOLFT) superresolution microscopy of living cells have relied on the use of reversibly switchable fluorescent proteins (RSFP) emitting in the green spectral range. Here we show RESOLFT imaging with rsCherryRev1.4, a new red-emitting RSFP enabling a spatial resolution up to four times higher than the diffraction barrier. By co-expressing green and red RSFPs in living cells we demonstrate two-color RESOLFT imaging both for single ("donut") beam scanning and for parallelized versions of RESOLFT nanoscopy where an array of >23,000 "donut-like" minima are scanned simultaneously.

Quantification of cell infection caused by Listeria monocytogenes invasion.

Listeria monocytogenes causes a life-threatening food-borne disease known as Listeriosis. Elderly,immunocompromised, and pregnant women are primarily the victims of this facultative intracellular Gram-positive pathogen. Since the bacteria survive intracellularly within the human host cells they are protected against the immune system and poorly accessed by many antibiotics. In order to screen pharmaceutical substances for their ability to interfere with the infection, persistence and release of L. monocytogenes a high content as say is required. We established a high content screen (HCS) using the RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cell line seeded into 96-well glass bottom microplates. Cells were infected with GFP-expressing L. monocytogenes and stained thereafter with Hoechst 33342.Automated image acquisition was carried out by the Scan(R) screening station. We have developed an algorithm that automatically grades cells in microscopy images of fluorescent-tagged Listeria for the severity of infection. The grading accuracy of this newly developed algorithm is 97.1% as compared to a 74.3%grading accuracy we obtained using the commercial Olympus Scan(R) software.

Establishment of a high content assay for the identification and characterisation of bioactivities in crude bacterial extracts that interfere with the eukaryotic cell cycle.

High content microscopy as a screening tool to identify bioactive agents has provided researchers with the ability to characterise biological activities at the level of single cells. Here, we describe the development and the application of a high content screening assay for the identification and characterisation of cytostatic bioactivities from Myxobacteria extracts. In an automated microscopy assay Sf9 insect cells were visualised utilising the stains bisbenzimide Hoechst 33342, calcein AM, and propidium iodide. Imaging data were processed by the ScanR Analysis-software to determine the ploidy and vitality of each cell and to quantify cell populations. More than 98% of the Sf9 cells were viable and the culture consisted of diploid ( approximately 30%), tetraploid ( approximately 60%), polyploidic (<10%) and apoptotic (<5%) cells. Treatment with the reference substances blasticidin, colchicine, paclitaxel, and cytochalasin D induced changes in ploidy and vitality, which were characteristic for the respective bioactive substance. Furthermore, crude extracts from the chivosazole producing Myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum So ce56 induced an increase of polyploid cells and a decrease in total cell count, while a mutant producing nearly no chivosazole triggered none of these effects. Purified chivosazole induced the same effects as the wild type extract. Similar effects have been observed for the reference compound cytochalasin D. On the basis of this assay, crude extracts of ten different Myxobacteria cultures were screened. Three extracts exhibited strong cytotoxic activities, further five extracts induced weak changes in the ploidy distribution, and two extracts showed no detectable effect within the assay. Therefore, this robust assay provides the ability to discover and characterise cytotoxic and cytostatic bioactivities in crude bacterial extracts.