Viljoen, A., Foster, S.J., Fantner, G.E. et al. (2 more authors) (2020) Scratching the surface : bacterial cell envelopes at the nanoscale. mBio, 11 (1). e03020-19. ISSN 2150-7511
Abstract
The bacterial cell envelope is essential for viability, the environmental gatekeeper and first line of defense against external stresses. For most bacteria, the envelope biosynthesis is also the site of action of some of the most important groups of antibiotics. It is a complex, often multicomponent structure, able to withstand the internally generated turgor pressure. Thus, elucidating the architecture and dynamics of the cell envelope is important, to unravel not only the complexities of cell morphology and maintenance of integrity but also how interventions such as antibiotics lead to death. To address these questions requires the capacity to visualize the cell envelope in situ via high-spatial resolution approaches. In recent years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has brought novel molecular insights into the assembly, dynamics, and functions of bacterial cell envelopes. The ultrafine resolution and physical sensitivity of the technique have revealed a wealth of ultrastructural features that are invisible to traditional optical microscopy techniques or imperceptible in their true physiological state by electron microscopy. Here, we discuss recent progress in our use of AFM imaging for understanding the architecture and dynamics of the bacterial envelope. We survey recent studies that demonstrate the power of the technique to observe isolated membranes and live cells at (sub)nanometer resolution and under physiological conditions and to track in vitro structural dynamics in response to growth or to drugs.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Viljoen et al. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | bacterial envelopes; ultrastructure; drugs; imaging; atomic force microscopy; assembly; microscopy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL BB/L006162/1 WELLCOME TRUST (THE) 212197/Z/18/Z |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2020 12:51 |
Last Modified: | 08 Apr 2020 12:56 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Society for Microbiology |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1128/mbio.03020-19 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:158903 |
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