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Blöbaum L, Torello Pianale L, Olsson L, Grünberger A. Quantifying microbial robustness in dynamic environments using microfluidic single-cell cultivation. Microb Cell Fact 2024; 23:44. [PMID: 38336674 PMCID: PMC10854032 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-024-02318-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Microorganisms must respond to changes in their environment. Analysing the robustness of functions (i.e. performance stability) to such dynamic perturbations is of great interest in both laboratory and industrial settings. Recently, a quantification method capable of assessing the robustness of various functions, such as specific growth rate or product yield, across different conditions, time frames, and populations has been developed for microorganisms grown in a 96-well plate. In micro-titer-plates, environmental change is slow and undefined. Dynamic microfluidic single-cell cultivation (dMSCC) enables the precise maintenance and manipulation of microenvironments, while tracking single cells over time using live-cell imaging. Here, we combined dMSCC and a robustness quantification method to a pipeline for assessing performance stability to changes occurring within seconds or minutes. RESULTS Saccharomyces cerevisiae CEN.PK113-7D, harbouring a biosensor for intracellular ATP levels, was exposed to glucose feast-starvation cycles, with each condition lasting from 1.5 to 48 min over a 20 h period. A semi-automated image and data analysis pipeline was developed and applied to assess the performance and robustness of various functions at population, subpopulation, and single-cell resolution. We observed a decrease in specific growth rate but an increase in intracellular ATP levels with longer oscillation intervals. Cells subjected to 48 min oscillations exhibited the highest average ATP content, but the lowest stability over time and the highest heterogeneity within the population. CONCLUSION The proposed pipeline enabled the investigation of function stability in dynamic environments, both over time and within populations. The strategy allows for parallelisation and automation, and is easily adaptable to new organisms, biosensors, cultivation conditions, and oscillation frequencies. Insights on the microbial response to changing environments will guide strain development and bioprocess optimisation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luisa Blöbaum
- Multiscale Bioengineering, Technical Faculty, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
- CeBiTec, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Luca Torello Pianale
- Industrial Biotechnology Division, Department of Life Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Lisbeth Olsson
- Industrial Biotechnology Division, Department of Life Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Alexander Grünberger
- Multiscale Bioengineering, Technical Faculty, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
- Microsystems in Bioprocess Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany.
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Cuny AP, Ponti A, Kündig T, Rudolf F, Stelling J. Cell region fingerprints enable highly precise single-cell tracking and lineage reconstruction. Nat Methods 2022; 19:1276-1285. [PMID: 36138173 DOI: 10.1038/s41592-022-01603-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Experimental studies of cell growth, inheritance and their associated processes by microscopy require accurate single-cell observations of sufficient duration to reconstruct the genealogy. However, cell tracking-assigning identical cells on consecutive images to a track-is often challenging, resulting in laborious manual verification. Here, we propose fingerprints to identify problematic assignments rapidly. A fingerprint distance compares the structural information contained in the low frequencies of a Fourier transform to measure the similarity between cells in two consecutive images. We show that fingerprints are broadly applicable across cell types and image modalities, provided the image has sufficient structural information. Our tracker (TracX) uses fingerprints to reject unlikely assignments, thereby increasing tracking performance on published and newly generated long-term data sets. For Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we propose a comprehensive model for cell size control at the single-cell and population level centered on the Whi5 regulator, demonstrating how precise tracking can help uncover previously undescribed single-cell biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas P Cuny
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Aaron Ponti
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Tomas Kündig
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Fabian Rudolf
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland.,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jörg Stelling
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland. .,Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Basel, Switzerland.
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Cuny AP, Schlottmann FP, Ewald JC, Pelet S, Schmoller KM. Live cell microscopy: From image to insight. BIOPHYSICS REVIEWS 2022; 3:021302. [PMID: 38505412 PMCID: PMC10903399 DOI: 10.1063/5.0082799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/18/2022] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
Live-cell microscopy is a powerful tool that can reveal cellular behavior as well as the underlying molecular processes. A key advantage of microscopy is that by visualizing biological processes, it can provide direct insights. Nevertheless, live-cell imaging can be technically challenging and prone to artifacts. For a successful experiment, many careful decisions are required at all steps from hardware selection to downstream image analysis. Facing these questions can be particularly intimidating due to the requirement for expertise in multiple disciplines, ranging from optics, biophysics, and programming to cell biology. In this review, we aim to summarize the key points that need to be considered when setting up and analyzing a live-cell imaging experiment. While we put a particular focus on yeast, many of the concepts discussed are applicable also to other organisms. In addition, we discuss reporting and data sharing strategies that we think are critical to improve reproducibility in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fabian P. Schlottmann
- Interfaculty Institute of Cell Biology, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Jennifer C. Ewald
- Interfaculty Institute of Cell Biology, University of Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany
| | - Serge Pelet
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
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Montero Llopis P, Senft RA, Ross-Elliott TJ, Stephansky R, Keeley DP, Koshar P, Marqués G, Gao YS, Carlson BR, Pengo T, Sanders MA, Cameron LA, Itano MS. Best practices and tools for reporting reproducible fluorescence microscopy methods. Nat Methods 2021; 18:1463-1476. [PMID: 34099930 DOI: 10.1038/s41592-021-01156-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Although fluorescence microscopy is ubiquitous in biomedical research, microscopy methods reporting is inconsistent and perhaps undervalued. We emphasize the importance of appropriate microscopy methods reporting and seek to educate researchers about how microscopy metadata impact data interpretation. We provide comprehensive guidelines and resources to enable accurate reporting for the most common fluorescence light microscopy modalities. We aim to improve microscopy reporting, thus improving the quality, rigor and reproducibility of image-based science.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca A Senft
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Daniel P Keeley
- Neuroscience Microscopy Core, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Preman Koshar
- Neuroscience Microscopy Core, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Guillermo Marqués
- University Imaging Centers and Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Ya-Sheng Gao
- Duke Light Microscopy Core Facility, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | - Thomas Pengo
- University of Minnesota Informatics Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Mark A Sanders
- University Imaging Centers and Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Lisa A Cameron
- Duke Light Microscopy Core Facility, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Michelle S Itano
- Neuroscience Microscopy Core, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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Bheda P, Aguilar-Gómez D, Kukhtevich I, Becker J, Charvin G, Kirmizis A, Schneider R. Microfluidics for single-cell lineage tracking over time to characterize transmission of phenotypes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. STAR Protoc 2020; 1:100228. [PMID: 33377118 PMCID: PMC7757727 DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model organism to dissect the maintenance and inheritance of phenotypes due to its asymmetric division. This requires following individual cells over time as they go through divisions to define pedigrees. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for collecting and analyzing time-lapse imaging data of yeast cells. The microfluidics protocol can achieve improved time resolution for single-cell tracking to enable characterization of maintenance and inheritance of phenotypes. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Bheda et al. (2020a).
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Affiliation(s)
- Poonam Bheda
- Institute of Functional Epigenetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
| | | | - Igor Kukhtevich
- Institute of Functional Epigenetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Johannes Becker
- Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gilles Charvin
- Development and Stem Cells, IGBMC, 67400 Illkirch, France
| | - Antonis Kirmizis
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, 2109 Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Robert Schneider
- Institute of Functional Epigenetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
- German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, 80333 Munich, Germany
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