Induction of Cellular Differentiation and Single Cell Imaging of Vibrio parahaemolyticus Swimmer and Swarmer Cells

Summary

This protocol enables single cell microscopy of the differentially distinct Vibrio parahaemolyticus swimmer and swarmer cells. The method produces a population of swarmer cells easily available for single cell analysis and covers preparation of cell cultures, induction of swarmer differentiation, sample preparation, and image analysis.

Abstract

The ability to study the intracellular localization of proteins is essential for the understanding of many cellular processes. In turn, this requires the ability to obtain single cells for fluorescence microscopy, which can be particularly challenging when imaging cells that exist within bacterial communities. For example, the human pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus exists as short rod-shaped swimmer cells in liquid conditions that upon surface contact differentiate into a subpopulation of highly elongated swarmer cells specialized for growth on solid surfaces. This paper presents a method to perform single cell fluorescence microscopy analysis of V. parahaemolyticus in its two differential states. This protocol very reproducibly induces differentiation of V. parahaemolyticus into a swarmer cell life-cycle and facilitates their proliferation over solid surfaces. The method produces flares of differentiated swarmer cells extending from the edge of the swarm-colony. Notably, at the very tip of the swarm-flares, swarmer cells exist in a single layer of cells, which allows for their easy transfer to a microscope slide and subsequent fluorescence microscopy imaging of single cells. Additionally, the workflow of image analysis for demographic representation of bacterial societies is presented. As a proof of principle, the analysis of the intracellular localization of chemotaxis signaling arrays in swimmer and swarmer cells of V. parahaemolyticus is described.

Introduction

Bacteria constantly experience changes to their external environment and have developed several techniques to change and adapt their behavior accordingly. One such mechanism involves differentiation into distinct cell types that better complement the altered environment. Differentiation often involves major changes in the regulation of the cell cycle, cell morphology, and the spatiotemporal organization of the cells. One organism that can undergo differentiation is Vibrio parahaemolyticus. V. parahaemolyticus belongs to the Vibrionaceae, whichis a family of proteobacteria that usually inhabit fresh or salt water. Vibrionaceae are wi....

Protocol

1. Preparation of Electro-competent V. parahaemolyticus Cells and Electroporation of Plasmid DNA into Swimmer Cells

NOTE: The following section of the protocol allows for the preparation of electro-competent cells and the subsequent electroporation of plasmid DNA into swimmer cells. This step is important if fluorescent proteins are being ectopically expressed from a plasmid.

1. Streak out V. parahaemolyticus cells from a -80 °C glycerol stock onto a fresh LB agar plate containing 100 µg/mL ampicillin and incubate overnight at 37 °C.
2. The following day, inoculate 200 mL of LB medium with a ....

Results

Induction of differentiation and generation of swarming colonies

Figure 1 provides a schema of the important steps involved in producing swarming colonies of V. parahaemolyticus (Figure 1A-C). A swimmer culture was spotted on swarm-agar and incubated at 24 ^oC, inducing swarmer differentiation and proliferation over the solid agar surface. A representative stereo-microscopy image.......

Discussion

This paper reports a method for microscopy imaging of V. parahaemolyticus swarmer cells, followed by downstream analyses intended to resolve and quantify the subcellular localization and other features of the studied fluorescently labeled proteins. Although several tools exist for microscopy image processing and analysis^{14,15,16,17,18}, the analysis of.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Media components
LB medium	Roth	X968.3
Difco Agar, granulated	BD	214510	For preparation of LB agar with LB medium
Difco Heart Infusion Agar	BD	244400	For preparation of HI agar swarming plates
Agarose NEEO, ultra quality	Roth	2267.3	For preparation of microscopy agarose pads
Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Additives
L-arabinose	Roth	5118.3	Used to induce pBAD derivatives
2,2`-Bipyridyl	Sigma Aldrich	D216305-25G	For preparation of HI agar swarming plates
Calcium chloride dihydrate	Roth	5239.1	For preparation of HI agar swarming plates
Ampicillin sodium salt	Roth	K029.3
Chloramphenicol	Roth	3886.3
PBS buffer	-	-	Standard recipe for Phosphate-buffered saline
D(+) Sucrose	Roth	4621.1	For preparation of electrocompetent cells
Glycerol	Roth	3783.5	For preparation of electrocompetent cells
Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Hardware
Petri dish 150 mm x 20 mm with cams	Sarstedt	82.1184.500	For preparation of HI agar swarming plates
kelvitron t (B 6420)	Heraeus	-	Used for drying HI agar swarming plates
Gene Pulser Xcell Microbial System	BioRad	1652662	Used for elctroporation of plasmid DNA
Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Software
MetaMorph Offline (version 7.7.5.0)	Molecular Devices	-	Used for microscopy image analysis
Excel	Microsoft	-	Used for microscopy data analsis