Quantitative Localization Microscopy Reveals a Novel Organization of a High-Copy Number Plasmid.

ABSTRACT: The maintenance of high-copy number plasmids within bacteria had been commonly thought to result from free diffusion and random segregation. Recent microscopy experiments, however, observed high-copy number plasmids clustering into discrete foci, which seemed to contradict this model, and hinted at an undiscovered active mechanism, as often found in low-copy number plasmids. We recently investigated the cellular organization of a ColE1-derivative plasmid in Escherichia coli bacteria using quantitative superresolved microscopy based on single-molecule localization in combination with single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH). We observed that many of the plasmids aggregated into large clusters, although most of the plasmids were randomly distributed throughout the bacteria

SUBMITTER: Wang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4982941 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature