Isothermal Microcalorimetry Detects the Presence of Persister Cells in a Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm After Vancomycin Treatment.

Staphylococcus aureus biofilm plays a major role in implant-associated infections. Here, the susceptibility of biofilm S. aureus to daptomycin, fosfomycin, vancomycin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, linezolid, and rifampicin was investigated by isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC). Moreover, the persister status of cells isolated from S. aureus biofilm after treatment with vancomycin was also analyzed. S. aureus biofilm was tolerant to all the antibiotics tested [minimum biofilm bactericidal concentration (MBBC) > 256 µg/ml], except to daptomycin [MBBC and minimum biofilm eradicating concentration (MBEC) = 32 µg/ml] and rifampin (MBBC and MBEC = 128 µg/ml). After the treatment of MRSA biofilm with 1024 µg/ml vancomycin, ∼5% cells survived, although metabolically inactive (persisters). Interestingly, IMC revealed that persister bacteria reverted to a normal-growing phenotype when inoculated into fresh medium without antibiotics. A staggered treatment of MRSA biofilm with vancomycin to kill all the metabolically active cells and daptomycin to kill persister cells eradicated the whole bacterial population. These results support the use in the clinical practice of a therapeutic regimen based on the use of two antibiotics to kill persister cells and eradicate MRSA biofilms. IMC represents a suitable technique to characterize in real-time the reversion from persister to metabolically-active cells.

Manipulation of lipoplex concentration at the cell surface boosts transfection efficiency in hard-to-transfect cells.

To date, efficiency upon non-viral DNA delivery remains low and this implies the existence of unidentified transfection barriers. Here we explore the mechanisms of action of multicomponent (MC) cationic liposome/DNA complexes (lipoplexes) by a combination of reporter technologies, dynamic light scattering (DLS), synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) in live cells. Lipofectamine - the gold standard among transfection reagents - was used as a reference. On the basis of our results, we suggest that an additional transfection barrier impairs transfection efficiency, that is: low lipoplex concentration at the cell surface. Based on the acquired knowledge we propose an optimized transfection protocol that allowed us to efficiently transfect DND41, JURKAT, MOLT3, P12-ICHIKAWA, ALL-SILL, TALL-1 human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cell lines known to be difficult-to-transfect by using non-viral vectors and where LFN-based technologies fail to give satisfactory results.

Visualizing the molecular mode of motion from a correlative analysis of localization microscopy datasets.

The determination of the mode and rapidity of motion of individual molecules within a biological sample is becoming a more and more common analysis in biophysical investigations. Single molecule tracking (SMT) techniques allow reconstructing the trajectories of individual molecules within a movie, provided that the position from one frame to the other can be correctly linked. The outcomes, however, appear to depend on the specific method used, and most techniques display a limitation to capture fast modes of motion in a crowded environment. We demonstrate here that the limitations encountered by conventional SMT can be significantly overcome by employing alternative approaches based on image spatial-temporal correlations, enabling to visually extract quantitative insights on the ensemble mode of motion of fluorescently labeled biomolecules that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Spatiotemporal Fluctuation Analysis: A Powerful Tool for the Future Nanoscopy of Molecular Processes.

The enormous wealth of information available today from optical microscopy measurements on living samples is often underexploited. We argue that spatiotemporal analysis of fluorescence fluctuations using multiple detection channels can enhance the performance of current nanoscopy methods and provide further insight into dynamic molecular processes of high biological relevance.

Diffusion Tensor Analysis by Two-Dimensional Pair Correlation of Fluorescence Fluctuations in Cells.

In a living cell, the movement of biomolecules is highly regulated by the cellular organization into subcompartments that impose barriers to diffusion, can locally break the spatial isotropy, and ultimately guide these molecules to their targets. Despite the pivotal role of these processes, experimental tools to fully probe the complex connectivity (and accessibility) of the cell interior with adequate spatiotemporal resolution are still lacking. Here, we show how the heterogeneity of molecular dynamics and the location of barriers to molecular motion can be mapped in live cells by exploiting a two-dimensional (2D) extension of the pair correlation function (pCF) analysis. Starting from a time series of images collected for the same field of view, the resulting 2D pCF is calculated in the proximity of each point for each time delay and allows us to probe the spatial distribution of the molecules that started from a given pixel. This 2D pCF yields an accurate description of the preferential diffusive routes. Furthermore, we combine this analysis with the image-derived mean-square displacement approach and gain information on the average nanoscopic molecular displacements in different directions. Through these quantities, we build a fluorescence-fluctuation-based diffusion tensor that contains information on speed and directionality of the local dynamical processes. Contrary to classical fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and related methods, this combined approach can distinguish between isotropic and anisotropic local diffusion. We argue that the measurement of this iMSD tensor will contribute to advance our understanding of the role played by the intracellular environment in the regulation of molecular diffusion at the nanoscale.

Single-cell real-time imaging of transgene expression upon lipofection.

Here we address the process of lipofection by quantifying the expression of a genetically-encoded fluorescent reporter at the single-cell level, and in real-time, by confocal imaging in live cells. The Lipofectamine gold-standard formulation is compared to the alternative promising DC-Chol/DOPE formulation. In both cases, we report that only dividing cells are able to produce a detectable amount of the fluorescent reporter protein. Notably, by measuring fluorescence over time in each pair of daughter cells, we find that Lipofectamine-based transfection statistically yields a remarkably higher degree of "symmetry" in protein expression between daughter cells as compared to DC-Chol/DOPE. A model is envisioned in which the degree of symmetry of protein expression is linked to the number of bioavailable DNA copies within the cell before nuclear breakdown. Reported results open new perspectives for the understanding of the lipofection mechanism and define a new experimental platform for the quantitative comparison of transfection reagents.

Precursor and mature NGF live tracking: one versus many at a time in the axons.

The classical view of nerve growth factor (NGF) action in the nervous system is linked to its retrograde axonal transport. However, almost nothing is known on the trafficking properties of its unprocessed precursor proNGF, characterized by different and generally opposite biological functions with respect to its mature counterpart. Here we developed a strategy to fluorolabel both purified precursor and mature neurotrophins (NTs) with a controlled stoichiometry and insertion site. Using a single particle tracking approach, we characterized the axonal transport of proNGF versus mature NGF in living dorsal root ganglion neurons grown in compartmentalized microfluidic devices. We demonstrate that proNGF is retrogradely transported as NGF, but with a lower flux and a different distribution of numbers of neurotrophins per vesicle. Moreover, exploiting a dual-color labelling technique, we analysed the transport of both NT forms when simultaneously administered to the axon tips.

Spontaneous membrane-translocating peptides: influence of peptide self-aggregation and cargo polarity.

Peptides that translocate spontaneously across cell membranes could transform the field of drug delivery by enabling the transport of otherwise membrane-impermeant molecules into cells. In this regard, a 9-aminoacid-long motif (representative sequence: PLIYLRLLR, hereafter Translocating Motif 9, TM9) that spontaneously translocates across membranes while carrying a polar dye was recently identified by high-throughput screening. Here we investigate its transport properties by a combination of in cuvette physico-chemical assays, rational mutagenesis, live-cell confocal imaging and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy measurements. We unveil TM9 ability to self-aggregate in a concentration-dependent manner and demonstrate that peptide self-aggregation is a necessary--yet not sufficient--step for effective membrane translocation. Furthermore we show that membrane crossing can occur with apolar payloads while it is completely inhibited by polar ones. These findings are discussed and compared to previous reports. The present results impose a careful rethinking of this class of sequences as direct-translocation vectors suitable for delivery purposes.

Unveiling TRPV1 spatio-temporal organization in live cell membranes.

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) is a non-selective cation channel that integrates several stimuli into nociception and neurogenic inflammation. Here we investigated the subtle TRPV1 interplay with candidate membrane partners in live cells by a combination of spatio-temporal fluctuation techniques and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging. We show that TRPV1 is split into three populations with fairly different molecular properties: one binding to caveolin-1 and confined into caveolar structures, one actively guided by microtubules through selective binding, and one which diffuses freely and is not directly implicated in regulating receptor functionality. The emergence of caveolin-1 as a new interactor of TRPV1 evokes caveolar endocytosis as the main desensitization pathway of TRPV1 receptor, while microtubule binding agrees with previous data suggesting the receptor stabilization in functional form by these cytoskeletal components. Our results shed light on the hitherto unknown relationships between spatial organization and TRPV1 function in live-cell membranes.

Probing short-range protein Brownian motion in the cytoplasm of living cells.

The translational motion of molecules in cells deviates from what is observed in dilute solutions. Theoretical models provide explanations for this effect but with predictions that drastically depend on the nanoscale organization assumed for macromolecular crowding agents. A conclusive test of the nature of the translational motion in cells is missing owing to the lack of techniques capable of probing crowding with the required temporal and spatial resolution. Here we show that fluorescence-fluctuation analysis of raster scans at variable timescales can provide this information. By using green fluorescent proteins in cells, we measure protein motion at the unprecedented timescale of 1 µs, unveiling unobstructed Brownian motion from 25 to 100 nm, and partially suppressed diffusion above 100 nm. Furthermore, experiments on model systems attribute this effect to the presence of relatively immobile structures rather than to diffusing crowding agents. We discuss the implications of these results for intracellular processes.

From fast fluorescence imaging to molecular diffusion law on live cell membranes in a commercial microscope.

It has become increasingly evident that the spatial distribution and the motion of membrane components like lipids and proteins are key factors in the regulation of many cellular functions. However, due to the fast dynamics and the tiny structures involved, a very high spatio-temporal resolution is required to catch the real behavior of molecules. Here we present the experimental protocol for studying the dynamics of fluorescently-labeled plasma-membrane proteins and lipids in live cells with high spatiotemporal resolution. Notably, this approach doesn't need to track each molecule, but it calculates population behavior using all molecules in a given region of the membrane. The starting point is a fast imaging of a given region on the membrane. Afterwards, a complete spatio-temporal autocorrelation function is calculated correlating acquired images at increasing time delays, for example each 2, 3, n repetitions. It is possible to demonstrate that the width of the peak of the spatial autocorrelation function increases at increasing time delay as a function of particle movement due to diffusion. Therefore, fitting of the series of autocorrelation functions enables to extract the actual protein mean square displacement from imaging (iMSD), here presented in the form of apparent diffusivity vs average displacement. This yields a quantitative view of the average dynamics of single molecules with nanometer accuracy. By using a GFP-tagged variant of the Transferrin Receptor (TfR) and an ATTO488 labeled 1-palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (PPE) it is possible to observe the spatiotemporal regulation of protein and lipid diffusion on µm-sized membrane regions in the micro-to-milli-second time range.

Fast spatiotemporal correlation spectroscopy to determine protein lateral diffusion laws in live cell membranes.

Spatial distribution and dynamics of plasma-membrane proteins are thought to be modulated by lipid composition and by the underlying cytoskeleton, which forms transient barriers to diffusion. So far this idea was probed by single-particle tracking of membrane components in which gold particles or antibodies were used to individually monitor the molecules of interest. Unfortunately, the relatively large particles needed for single-particle tracking can in principle alter the very dynamics under study. Here, we use a method that makes it possible to investigate plasma-membrane proteins by means of small molecular labels, specifically single GFP constructs. First, fast imaging of the region of interest on the membrane is performed. For each time delay in the resulting stack of images the average spatial correlation function is calculated. We show that by fitting the series of correlation functions, the actual protein "diffusion law" can be obtained directly from imaging, in the form of a mean-square displacement vs. time-delay plot, with no need for interpretative models. This approach is tested with several simulated 2D diffusion conditions and in live Chinese hamster ovary cells with a GFP-tagged transmembrane transferrin receptor, a well-known benchmark of membrane-skeleton-dependent transiently confined diffusion. This approach does not require extraction of the individual trajectories and can be used also with dim and dense molecules. We argue that it represents a powerful tool for the determination of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters over very wide spatial and temporal scales.

Unveiling LOX-1 receptor interplay with nanotopography: mechanotransduction and atherosclerosis onset.

Lectin-like ox-LDL receptors (LOX-1) play a crucial role in the ox-LDL-induced pathological transformation of vessel-wall components, a crucial early step in atherogenesis. LOX-1 dynamics is quantitatively investigated in human endothelial cells (HUVECs) exposed to environmental nanotopographies. We demonstrate distinct nanotopography-induced cell phenotypes, characterized by different morphology, LOX-1 diffusivity and oligomerization state: HUVECs on flat surfaces exhibit the behavior found in pro-atherogenic conditions, while growth on nanogratings can interfere with LOX-1 dynamics and lead to a behavior characteristic of normal, non-pathological conditions.