Tracking the cargo of extracellular symbionts into host tissues with correlated electron microscopy and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging.

ABSTRACT: Extracellular bacterial symbionts communicate biochemically with their hosts to establish niches that foster the partnership. Using quantitative ion microprobe isotopic imaging (nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry [NanoSIMS]), we surveyed localization of ¹⁵ N-labelled molecules produced by the bacterium Vibrio fischeri within the cells of the symbiotic organ of its host, the Hawaiian bobtail squid, and compared that with either labelled non-specific species or amino acids. In all cases, two areas of the organ's epithelia were significantly more ¹⁵ N enriched: (a) surface ciliated cells, where environmental symbionts are recruited, and (b) the organ's crypts, where the symbiont population resides in the host. Label enrichment in all cases was strongest inside hos

SUBMITTER: Cohen SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7765731 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature