Alignment of biological microparticles by a polarized laser beam

Differential Polarization Imaging of Plant Cells. Mapping the Anisotropy of Cell Walls and Chloroplasts

Modern light microscopy imaging techniques have substantially advanced our knowledge about the ultrastructure of plant cells and their organelles. Laser-scanning microscopy and digital light microscopy imaging techniques, in general—in addition to their high sensitivity, fast data acquisition, and great versatility of 2D–4D image analyses—also opened the technical possibilities to combine microscopy imaging with spectroscopic measurements. In this review, we focus our attention on differential polarization (DP) imaging techniques and on their applications on plant cell walls and chloroplasts, and show how these techniques provided unique and quantitative information on the anisotropic molecular organization of plant cell constituents: (i) We briefly describe how laser-scanning microscopes (LSMs) and the enhanced-resolution Re-scan Confocal Microscope (RCM of Confocal.nl Ltd. Amsterdam, Netherlands) can be equipped with DP attachments—making them capable of measuring different polarization spectroscopy parameters, parallel with the ‘conventional’ intensity imaging. (ii) We show examples of different faces of the strong anisotropic molecular organization of chloroplast thylakoid membranes. (iii) We illustrate the use of DP imaging of cell walls from a variety of wood samples and demonstrate the use of quantitative analysis. (iv) Finally, we outline the perspectives of further technical developments of micro-spectropolarimetry imaging and its use in plant cell studies.

Circular Intensity Differential Scattering for Label-Free Chromatin Characterization: A Review for Optical Microscopy

Circular Intensity Differential Scattering (CIDS) provides a differential measurement of the circular right and left polarized light and has been proven to be a gold standard label-free technique to study the molecular conformation of complex biopolymers, such as chromatin. In early works, it has been shown that the scattering component of the CIDS signal gives information from the long-range chiral organization on a scale down to 1/10th-1/20th of the excitation wavelength, leading to information related to the structure and orientation of biopolymers in situ at the nanoscale. In this paper, we review the typical methods and technologies employed for measuring this signal coming from complex macro-molecules ordering. Additionally, we include a general description of the experimental architectures employed for spectroscopic CIDS measurements, angular or spectral, and of the most recent advances in the field of optical imaging microscopy, allowing a visualization of the chromatin organization in situ.

Fluorescence-detected linear dichroism imaging in a re-scan confocal microscope equipped with differential polarization attachment

Confocal laser scanning microscopy is probably the most widely used and one of the most powerful techniques in basic biology, medicine and material sciences that is employed to elucidate the architecture of complex cellular structures and molecular macro-assemblies. It has recently been shown that the information content, signal-to-noise ratio and resolution of such microscopes (LSMs) can be improved significantly by adding different attachments or modifying their design, while retaining their user-friendly features and relatively moderate costs. Differential polarization (DP) attachments, using high-frequency modulation/demodulation circuits, have made LSMs capable of high-precision 2D and 3D mapping of the anisotropy of microscopic samples—without interfering with their ‘conventional’ fluorescence or transmission imaging (Steinbach et al. in Methods Appl Fluoresc 2:015005, 2014). The resolution and the quality of fluorescence imaging have been enhanced in the recently constructed Re-scan confocal microscopy (RCM) (De Luca et al. in Biomed Opt Express 4:2644–2656, 2013). In this work, we developed the RCM technique further, by adding a DP-attachment modulating the exciting laser beam via a liquid crystal (LC) retarder synchronized with the data acquisition system; by this means, and with the aid of a software, fluorescence-detected linear dichroism (FDLD), characteristic of the anisotropic molecular organization of the sample, could be recorded in parallel with the confocal fluorescence imaging. For demonstration, we show FDLD images of a plant cell wall (Ginkgo biloba) stained with Etzold’s staining solution.

Imaging linear and circular polarization features in leaves with complete Mueller matrix polarimetry

Spectropolarimetry of intact plant leaves allows to probe the molecular architecture of vegetation photosynthesis in a non-invasive and non-destructive way and, as such, can offer a wealth of physiological information. In addition to the molecular signals due to the photosynthetic machinery, the cell structure and its arrangement within a leaf can create and modify polarization signals. Using Mueller matrix polarimetry with rotating retarder modulation, we have visualized spatial variations in polarization in transmission around the chlorophyll a absorbance band from 650 nm to 710 nm. We show linear and circular polarization measurements of maple leaves and cultivated maize leaves and discuss the corresponding Mueller matrices and the Mueller matrix decompositions, which show distinct features in diattenuation, polarizance, retardance and depolarization. Importantly, while normal leaf tissue shows a typical split signal with both a negative and a positive peak in the induced fractional circular polarization and circular dichroism, the signals close to the veins only display a negative band. The results are similar to the negative band as reported earlier for single macrodomains. We discuss the possible role of the chloroplast orientation around the veins as a cause of this phenomenon. Systematic artefacts are ruled out as three independent measurements by different instruments gave similar results. These results provide better insight into circular polarization measurements on whole leaves and options for vegetation remote sensing using circular polarization.

Optical trapping force and torque on spheroidal Rayleigh particles with arbitrary spatial orientations

We investigate the spatial orientation dependence of optical trapping forces and intrinsic torques exerted on spheroidal Rayleigh particles under irradiation of highly focused linearly and circularly polarized beams. It is revealed that the maximal trapping forces and torques strongly depend on the orientation of the spheroid, and the spheroidal particle is driven to be stably trapped at the beam focus with its major axis perpendicular to the optical axis. For a linearly polarized trapping beam, the optical torque is always perpendicular to the plane containing the major axis and the polarization direction of the incident beam. Therefore, the spheroid tends to rotate its major axis along with the polarization direction. However, for a circularly polarized trapping beam, the optical torque is always perpendicular to the plane containing the major axis and the optical axis. What is different from the linear polarization case is that the spheroid tends to have the major axis parallel to the projection of the major axis in the transverse plane. The optical torque in the circular polarization case is half of that in the linear polarization case. These optical trapping properties may be exploited in practical optical manipulation, especially for the nonspherical particle's trapping.

Elastic theory for the deformation of a spherical dielectric biological object under electro-optical trapping

The shear modulus of a dielectric spherical particle is investigated using a combination of triangular (or square) electrodes and a single-beam optical tweezer.

Mapping microscopic order in plant and mammalian cells and tissues: novel differential polarization attachment for new generation confocal microscopes (DP-LSM)

Elucidation of the molecular architecture of complex, highly organized molecular macro-assemblies is an important, basic task for biology. Differential polarization (DP) measurements, such as linear (LD) and circular dichroism (CD) or the anisotropy of the fluorescence emission (r), which can be carried out in a dichrograph or spectrofluorimeter, respectively, carry unique, spatially averaged information about the molecular organization of the sample. For inhomogeneous samples-e.g. cells and tissues-measurements on macroscopic scale are not satisfactory, and in some cases not feasible, thus microscopic techniques must be applied. The microscopic DP-imaging technique, when based on confocal laser scanning microscope (LSM), allows the pixel by pixel mapping of anisotropy of a sample in 2D and 3D. The first DP-LSM configuration, which, in fluorescence mode, allowed confocal imaging of different DP quantities in real-time, without interfering with the 'conventional' imaging, was built on a Zeiss LSM410. It was demonstrated to be capable of determining non-confocally the linear birefringence (LB) or LD of a sample and, confocally, its FDLD (fluorescence detected LD), the degree of polarization (P) and the anisotropy of the fluorescence emission (r), following polarized and non-polarized excitation, respectively (Steinbach et al 2009 Acta Histochem.111 316-25). This DP-LSM configuration, however, cannot simply be adopted to new generation microscopes with considerably more compact structures. As shown here, for an Olympus FV500, we designed an easy-to-install DP attachment to determine LB, LD, FDLD and r, in new-generation confocal microscopes, which, in principle, can be complemented with a P-imaging unit, but specifically to the brand and type of LSM.

Anisotropic circular dichroism signatures of oriented thylakoid membranes and lamellar aggregates of LHCII

In photosynthesis research, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is an indispensable tool to probe molecular architecture at virtually all levels of structural complexity. At the molecular level, the chirality of the molecule results in intrinsic CD; pigment-pigment interactions in protein complexes and small aggregates can give rise to excitonic CD bands, while "psi-type" CD signals originate from large, densely packed chiral aggregates. It has been well established that anisotropic CD (ACD), measured on samples with defined non-random orientation relative to the propagation of the measuring beam, carries specific information on the architecture of molecules or molecular macroassemblies. However, ACD is usually combined with linear dichroism and can be distorted by instrumental imperfections, which given the strong anisotropic nature of photosynthetic membranes and complexes, might be the reason why ACD is rarely studied in photosynthesis research. In this study, we present ACD spectra, corrected for linear dichroism, of isolated intact thylakoid membranes of granal chloroplasts, washed unstacked thylakoid membranes, photosystem II (PSII) membranes (BBY particles), grana patches, and tightly stacked lamellar macroaggregates of the main light-harvesting complex of PSII (LHCII). We show that the ACD spectra of face- and edge-aligned stacked thylakoid membranes and LHCII lamellae exhibit profound differences in their psi-type CD bands. Marked differences are also seen in the excitonic CD of BBY and washed thylakoid membranes. Magnetic CD (MCD) spectra on random and aligned samples, and the largely invariable nature of the MCD spectra, despite dramatic variations in the measured isotropic and anisotropic CD, testify that ACD can be measured without substantial distortions and thus employed to extract detailed information on the (supra)molecular organization of photosynthetic complexes. An example is provided showing the ability of CD data to indicate such an organization, leading to the discovery of a novel crystalline structure in macroaggregates of LHCII.

Optical orientation and rotation of trapped red blood cells with Laguerre-Gaussian mode

We report the use of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes for controlled orientation and rotation of optically trapped red blood cells (RBCs). For LG modes with increasing topological charge the resulting increase in size of the intensity annulas led to trapping of the cells at larger tilt angle with respect to the beam axis and thus provided additional control on the stable orientation of the cells under trap. Further, the RBCs could also be driven as micro-rotors by a transfer of orbital angular momentum from the LG trapping beam having large topological charge or by rotating the profile of LG mode having fractional topological charge.

Full 3D translational and rotational optical control of multiple rod-shaped bacteria

The class of rod-shaped bacteria is an important example of non-spherical objects where defined alignment is desired for the observation of intracellular processes or studies of the flagella. However, all available methods for orientational control of rod-shaped bacteria are either limited with respect to the accessible rotational axes or feasible angles or restricted to one single bacterium. In this paper we demonstrate a scheme to orientate rod-shaped bacteria with holographic optical tweezers (HOT) in any direction. While these bacteria have a strong preference to align along the direction of the incident laser beam, our scheme provides for the first time full rotational control of multiple bacteria with respect to any arbitrary axis. In combination with the translational control HOT inherently provide, this enables full control of all three translational and the two important rotational degrees of freedom of multiple rod-shaped bacteria and allows one to arrange them in any desired configuration.

Optical microscopy in photosynthesis

Emerging as well as the most frequently used optical microscopy techniques are reviewed and image contrast generation methods in a microscope are presented, focusing on the nonlinear contrasts such as harmonic generation and multiphoton excitation fluorescence. Nonlinear microscopy presents numerous advantages over linear microscopy techniques including improved deep tissue imaging, optical sectioning, and imaging of live unstained samples. Nonetheless, with the exception of multiphoton excitation fluorescence, nonlinear microscopy is in its infancy, lacking protocols, users and applications; hence, this review focuses on the potential of nonlinear microscopy for studying photosynthetic organisms. Examples of nonlinear microscopic imaging are presented including isolated light-harvesting antenna complexes from higher plants, starch granules, chloroplasts, unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and cyanobacteria Leptolyngbya sp. and Anabaena sp. While focusing on nonlinear microscopy techniques, second and third harmonic generation and multiphoton excitation fluorescence microscopy, other emerging nonlinear imaging modalities are described and several linear optical microscopy techniques are reviewed in order to clearly describe their capabilities and to highlight the advantages of nonlinear microscopy.

Linear dichroism and circular dichroism in photosynthesis research

The efficiency of photosynthetic light energy conversion depends largely on the molecular architecture of the photosynthetic membranes. Linear- and circular-dichroism (LD and CD) studies have contributed significantly to our knowledge of the molecular organization of pigment systems at different levels of complexity, in pigment-protein complexes, supercomplexes, and their macroassemblies, as well as in entire membranes and membrane systems. Many examples show that LD and CD data are in good agreement with structural data; hence, these spectroscopic tools serve as the basis for linking the structure of photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes to steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy. They are also indispensable for identifying conformations and interactions in native environments, and for monitoring reorganizations during photosynthetic functions, and are important in characterizing reconstituted and artificially constructed systems. This educational review explains, in simple terms, the basic physical principles, and theory and practice of LD and CD spectroscopies and of some related quantities in the areas of differential polarization spectroscopy and microscopy.

Optical torques guiding cell motility

The main mechanism responsible for cell motility is the stochastic generation and breakup of actin filaments forming the cytoskeleton. However, the role of environmental factors in the migration and differentiation of cells is yet to be fully understood. Here we demonstrate that polarized optical fields can exert controllable torques on the actin network and therefore influence the treadmilling process responsible for cells motility. Through systematic experiments and stochastic modeling we demonstrate that actively guiding the dynamics of large groups of cells is possible in a noninvasive manner.

Imaging anisotropy using differential polarization laser scanning confocal microscopy

We have constructed differential polarization (DP) attachments to a laser scanning microscope (LSM) for imaging the main DP quantities of anisotropic microscopic objects. The DP-LSM operates with high-frequency modulation and subsequent demodulation and displays the main DP quantities pixel by pixel. These, for linearly polarized light, include: (i) linear birefringence (LB), which is exhibited by structurally and/or optically anisotropic material; (ii) linear dichroism (LD), which carries information on the anisotropic distribution of the molecules, i.e. of their absorbance transition dipole vectors, in the sample; (iii) fluorescence-detected LD (FDLD), which carries the same information for fluorescent dyes upon excitations with two orthogonally polarized light beams; (iv) anisotropy of the fluorescence emission (r), excited with non-polarized light, which is determined by the distribution of the emission transition dipole vectors in the sample and is analogous with LD and (v) the degree of polarization of the fluorescence emission (P), excited with polarized light, which depends on the depolarization of the emission e.g. due to the rotation of molecules during their excitation lifetimes. In fluorescence regimes, the DP images can be recorded in the confocal regime of the microscope, which thus warrants good spatial resolution and the possibility of mapping the anisotropy in three dimensions. In this paper, we outline the design and technical realization of our DP-LSM and give a few examples on DP imaging of different biological samples.

Imaging fluorescence detected linear dichroism of plant cell walls in laser scanning confocal microscope

Anisotropy carries important information on the molecular organization of biological samples. Its determination requires a combination of microscopy and polarization spectroscopy tools. The authors constructed differential polarization (DP) attachments to a laser scanning microscope in order to determine physical quantities related to the anisotropic distribution of molecules in microscopic samples; here the authors focus on fluorescence-detected linear dichroism (FDLD). By modulating the linear polarization of the laser beam between two orthogonally polarized states and by using a demodulation circuit, the authors determine the associated transmitted and fluorescence intensity-difference signals, which serve the basis for LD (linear dichroism) and FDLD, respectively. The authors demonstrate on sections of Convallaria majalis root tissue stained with Acridin Orange that while (nonconfocal) LD images remain smeared and weak, FDLD images recorded in confocal mode reveal strong anisotropy of the cell wall. FDLD imaging is suitable for mapping the anisotropic distribution of transition dipoles in 3 dimensions. A mathematical model is proposed to account for the fiber-laminate ultrastructure of the cell wall and for the intercalation of the dye molecules in complex, highly anisotropic architecture.

Orientation of erythrocytes in optical trap revealed by confocal fluorescence microscopy

There has been considerable current interest in the rotational behavior of red blood cells (RBCs) in optical tweezers. However, the mechanism of rotation in polarized tweezers is still not well understood and conflicts exist in the understanding of this phenomenon. Therefore, we reexamined the underlying phenomenon by use of confocal fluorescence microscopy in combination with optical tweezers. Under different osmolarities of the buffer, the three-dimensionally reconstructed images showed that the trapped RBC maintains its shape and is oriented in the vertical direction. Using dual optical tweezers, the RBC could also be oriented three-dimensionally in a controlled manner. The mechanism of orientation and alignment of RBCs with the polarization of the tweezers' beam was attributed to its form-birefringence rather than optical birefringence.