We thank H. Fleming for critical reading and editing of the manuscript. This work was supported by a Misrock Postdoctoral fellowship (TD) and NDSEG graduate fellowship (AP). SNB is a HHMI Investigator.

1.	Cell Preparation
<ol>
 <li>Passage cell lines using standard cell culture techniques. In this experiment, we used OVCAR-8 cells (NCI DCTD Tumor Repository, Frederick, MD). Grow cells to a target confluency of 80 - 100%. </li>
 <li>Incubate cells with 5 ml trypsin for 5 min, then add 5 ml RPMI medium + FBS to inactivate trypsin. </li>
 <li>Harvest and count cells on a hemocytometer. Resuspend in phenol red-free DMEM at a target concentration of 5 x 107 cells/ml, or about 200 &mu;l per flask. </li>
 <li>Add 15% reduced growth factor Matrigel (BD Biosciences) and keep the cell suspension on ice until implantation. </li>
</ol>
2.	Tumor Implantation
<ol>
 <li>Anesthetize 4 week old female Ncr/Nu mice using 3% isoflurane and wait roughly 5 min to ensure deep anesthesia. Use vet ointment on eyes to prevent dryness while under anesthesia. </li>
 <li>Load the cells (100 &mu;l per tumor) in a 1 ml syringe and attach a 27 1/2 gauge needle.</li>
 <li>For each of two bilateral hind flank injection sites, lift the skin gently with forceps to make a tent and inject cells at the base. Take care not to penetrate too deep, producing blood. Use tweezers to gently remove syringe without spatter.</li>
 <li>Monitor tumor growth daily for 10 - 20 days until a tumor diameter of 2 - 4 mm is reached. </li>
</ol>
3.	Bacteria Preparation 
<ol>
 <li>Start an overnight culture of bacteria in 3 ml LB media + Ampicillin from an -80 C freezer stock or refrigerated plate. In this experiment, we used S. typhimurium strain ELH430 (SL1344 PhoPQ- aroA-).</li>
 <li>In the morning, dilute the culture 1:100 into filtered LB and grow to OD600 0.4 - 0.6. </li>
 <li>Spin down and wash 3 times in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and resuspend at a final OD600 of 0.1 (about 1 x 107 cells/ml). </li>
</ol>
4.	Bacteria Injection 
<ol>
 <li>Anesthetize the animal and position on its side with the tail pointing toward your dominant hand. Use vet ointment on eyes to prevent dryness while under anesthesia. </li>
 <li>Dilate the tail vein using warm water or a heat lamp. </li>
 <li>Load the bacteria (100 &mu;l per mouse) in a 1 ml syringe and bend the tip just less than 90 degrees.</li>
 <li>Align the syringe tip with the tail vein, penetrate at a shallow depth (should feel no resistance), and inject bacteria. Observe bloodflow displacement for a successful injection. </li>
</ol>
5.	Mouse Imaging 
<ol>
 <li>Anesthetize animals in the induction chamber then place each mouse on the imaging platform. Use vet ointment on eyes to prevent dryness while under anesthesia. Maintain precise positioning to ensure quantitative results between time points. </li>
 <li>Image animals using the IVIS Spectrum imaging system (Caliper Life Sciences). If imaging more than 1 animal, place light barriers between them to prevent cross-illumination. Animals should be imaged first on the ventral side to confirm localization of bacteria. </li>
 <li>Image animals dorsally using IVIS every 2 hr for the duration of the experiment (36 hours). Generate a time course for a given ROI. </li>
</ol>
6.	Quantifying Bacterial Biodistribution
<ol>
 <li>Euthanize animals using CO2 and place on the back on an absorbent diaper.</li>
 <li> Turn the animal to expose the two hind flank subcutaneous tumors. Cut the surrounding skin tissue to separate and remove the tumors. Holding the tumor with tweezers, remove the skin using a reversed scissor motion. When the majority of the skin has been separated, fully remove the tumor using tweezers.</li>
 <li>Place the organs in pre-weighed microcentrifuge tubes. Since the mass of these tubes can vary significantly it is important to pre-weigh them for quantitative results. </li>
</ol>
7.	Quantifying Bacterial Biodistribution
<ol>
 <li>For each time point, excise and weigh the tumors.</li>
 <li>Add 500 &mu;l PBS + 15% glycerol and homogenize using a Tissue-Tearor (BioSpec). Rinse the homogenizer 3 times with ethanol between samples. </li>
 <li>Generate serial dilutions and plate for bacterial colony counting. To plate multiple dilutions on a single plate use pre-sectioned plates. </li>
</ol>

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No conflicts of interest declared.

Using this procedure, we are able to generate time courses for the growth and gene expression dynamics of bacteria colonizing tumors. While these measurements are routinely performed in vitro in batch culture or microfluidics devices, they are much more difficult to perform in vivo. 
There are several modifications that can be applied to these methods. While we used the OVCAR-8 cell line to generate our mouse models, a number of other cell lines may be used equivalently. For ...

Synthetic biology has progressed rapidly over the last decade and is now positioned to impact important problems in energy and health. However, expansion into the clinical arena has been slowed by safety concerns and an absence of developing design criteria for in vivo genetic circuits. Accelerating high impact medical applications will require utilizing methods that interface directly with medical infrastructure, genetic circuits that function outside of the controlled lab setting, and safe and clinically-accepted microbial hosts. 
A number of strains have been investigated for cancer therapy due to their ability to grow preferentially in tumors. These have included C. novyi, E. coli, V. cholorae, B. longum, and S. typhimurium3-8. S. typhimurium has generated particular interest as they have exhibited safety and tolerance in a number of human clinical trials9-12. These bacteria were initially shown to create anti-tumor effects through stimulation of the host immune system and by depletion of nutrients required for cancer cell metabolism. Production of therapeutic cargo was later added through genetic modifications. While these studies represent important advances in the use of bacteria for tumor therapies, the majority of existing efforts have relied on high-level expression that typically results in the delivery of high dosages, off-target effects, and development of host resistance13-16. 
Now, synthetic biology may add programmable cargo production by utilizing computationally-designed genetic circuits that can perform advanced sensing and delivery17-20. These circuits can be designed to act as delivery systems that sense tumor-specific stimuli and self-regulate cargo production as necessary. However, studying the function of these circuits in vivo has thus far been challenging. 
Since plasmids are the common framework for synthetic circuits, we describe a method to characterize the dynamics of plasmid-based gene expression in vivo using a mouse model. These methods utilize time-lapse luminescence imaging and quantitative measurement of biodistribution. Together, these approaches provide a framework for studying plasmid-based networks in vivo for clinical applications.

<table border="1">
<tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Name</td>
 <td>Company</td>
 <td>Catalog Number</td>
 <td>Comments</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1 ml syringe</td>
 <td>BD Biosciences</td>
 <td>309602</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>3/10 cc Insulin Syringe</td>
 <td>BD Biosciences</td>
 <td>309301</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>PrecisionGlide Needle </td>
 <td>BD Biosciences </td>
 <td>301629</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>RPMI Medium 1640 (1X), 
 liquid, with L-glutamine</td>
 <td>Invitrogen</td>
 <td>11875-119 </td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Ampicillin</td>
 <td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
 <td>A0166-5G</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>LB Agar Broth</td>
 <td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
 <td>L2897</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Luria-Bertani broth</td>
 <td>BD Biosciences</td>
 <td>244610</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

measuring growth and gene expression dynamics of tumor-targeted s. typhimurium bacteria

The goal of these experiments is to generate quantitative time-course data on the growth and gene expression dynamics of attenuated S. typhimurium bacterial colonies growing inside tumors. 
We generated model xenograft tumors in mice by subcutaneous injection of a human ovarian cancer cell line, OVCAR-8 (NCI DCTD Tumor Repository, Frederick, MD). 
We transformed attenuated strains of S. typhimurium bacteria (ELH430:SL1344 phoPQ- 1) with a constitutively expressed luciferase (luxCDABE) plasmid for visualization2. These strains specifically colonize tumors while remaining essentially non-virulent to the mouse1. 
Once measurable tumors were established, bacteria were injected intravenously via the tail vein with varying dosage. Tumor-localized, bacterial gene expression was monitored in real time over the course of 60 hours using an in vivo imaging system (IVIS). At each time point, tumors were excised, homogenized, and plated to quantitate bacterial colonies for correlation with gene expression data. 
Together, this data yields a quantitative measure of the in vivo growth and gene expression dynamics of bacteria growing inside tumors.

Using this protocol, we are able to generate data on the in vivo growth and gene expression dynamics of tumor targeted bacteria. The overall workflow is summarized in Figure 1. 
In the first stage, we inject bacteria (green) and image the animal using IVIS to measure gene expression with luminescence (blue) as a reporter. 
Then, in the second stage, we excise, homogenize, and plate tumors for colony counts to determine the number of bacteri...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Growth and Gene Expression Dynamics of Tumor-Targeted S. Typhimurium Bacteria at JoVE.com

Measuring Growth and Gene Expression Dynamics of Tumor-Targeted S. Typhimurium Bacteria

The goal of these experiments is to generate quantitative time-course data on the growth and gene expression dynamics of attenuated S. typhimurium bacterial colonies growing inside tumors. This video covers tumor cell preparation and implantation, bacteria preparation and injection, whole-animal luminescence imaging, tumor excision, and bacterial colony counting.

Measuring Growth and Gene Expression Dynamics of Tumor-Targeted S. Typhimurium Bacteria

The goal of these experiments is to generate quantitative time-course data on the growth and gene expression dynamics of attenuated S. typhimurium ...

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Immunology and Infection

12.3K Views.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology. الهدف من هذه التجارب هو لتوليد البيانات وقتا بالطبع الكمية على نمو وديناميات التعبير الجيني من الموهن S. تيفوميوريم المستعمرات البكتيرية المتزايد داخل الأورام. يغطي هذا الفيديو إعداد ورم الخلايا وزرع، وإعداد البكتيريا وحقن، والتصوير كله والحيوان التل?...

Video: Measuring Growth and Gene Expression Dynamics of Tumor-Targeted S. Typhimurium Bacteria

Detection of Bacteria Using Fluorogenic DNAzymes

Outbreaks linked to food-borne and hospital-acquired pathogens account for millions of deaths and hospitalizations as well as colossal economic losses each and every year. Prevention of such outbreaks and minimization of the impact of an ongoing epidemic place an ever-increasing demand for analytical methods that can accurately identify culprit pathogens at the earliest stage. Although there is a large array of effective methods for pathogen detection, none of them can satisfy all the following five premier requirements embodied for an ideal detection method: high specificity (detecting only the bacterium of interest), high sensitivity (capable of detecting as low as a single live bacterial cell), short time-to-results (minutes to hours), great operational simplicity (no need for lengthy sampling procedures and the use of specialized equipment), and cost effectiveness. For example, classical microbiological methods are highly specific but require a long time (days to weeks) to acquire a definitive result.1 PCR- and antibody-based techniques offer shorter waiting times (hours to days), but they require the use of expensive reagents and/or sophisticated equipment.2-4 Consequently, there is still a great demand for scientific research towards developing innovative bacterial detection methods that offer improved characteristics in one or more of the aforementioned requirements. Our laboratory is interested in examining the potential of DNAzymes as a novel class of molecular probes for biosensing applications including bacterial detection.5
DNAzymes (also known as deoxyribozymes or DNA enzymes) are man-made single-stranded DNA molecules with the capability of catalyzing chemical reactions.6-8 These molecules can be isolated from a vast random-sequence DNA pool (which contains as many as 1016 individual sequences) by a process known as "in vitro selection" or "SELEX" (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment).9-16 These special DNA molecules have been widely examined in recent years as molecular tools for biosensing applications.6-8
Our laboratory has established in vitro selection procedures for isolating RNA-cleaving fluorescent DNAzymes (RFDs; Fig. 1) and investigated the use of RFDs as analytical tools.17-29 RFDs catalyze the cleavage of a DNA-RNA chimeric substrate at a single ribonucleotide junction (R) that is flanked by a fluorophore (F) and a quencher (Q). The close proximity of F and Q renders the uncleaved substrate minimal fluorescence. However, the cleavage event leads to the separation of F and Q, which is accompanied by significant increase of fluorescence intensity.
More recently, we developed a method of isolating RFDs for bacterial detection.5 These special RFDs were isolated to "light up" in the presence of the crude extracellular mixture (CEM) left behind by a specific type of bacteria in their environment or in the media they are cultured (Fig. 1). The use of crude mixture circumvents the tedious process of purifying and identifying a suitable target from the microbe of interest for biosensor development (which could take months or years to complete). The use of extracellular targets means the assaying procedure is simple because there is no need for steps to obtain intracellular targets.
Using the above approach, we derived an RFD that cleaves its substrate (FS1; Fig. 2A) only in the presence of the CEM produced by E. coli (CEM-EC).5 This E. coli-sensing RFD, named RFD-EC1 (Fig. 2A), was found to be strictly responsive to CEM-EC but nonresponsive to CEMs from a host of other bacteria (Fig. 3).
Here we present the key experimental procedures for setting up E. coli detection assays using RFD-EC1 and representative results.

We have recently reported a novel approach for generating fluorogenic DNAzyme probes that can be applied to set up a simple, "mix-and-read" fluorescent assay for bacterial detection. These special DNA probes catalyze the cleavage of a chromophore-modified DNA-RNA chimeric substrate in the presence of crude extracellular mixture (CEM) produced by a specific bacterium, thereby translating bacterial detection into fluorescence signal generation. In this report we will describe key experimental procedures where a specific DNAzyme probe denoted "RFD-EC1" is employed for the detection of the model bacterium, Escherichia coli (E. coli).

Outbreaks linked to food-borne and hospital-acquired pathogens account for millions of deaths and hospitalizations as well as colossal economic losses ...

Using Fluorescent Proteins to Visualize and Quantitate Chlamydia Vacuole Growth Dynamics in Living Cells

The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia elicits a great burden on global public health. C.&#160;trachomatis is the leading bacterial cause of sexually transmitted infection and also the primary cause of preventable blindness in the world. An essential determinant for successful infection of host cells by Chlamydia is the bacterium's ability to manipulate host cell signaling from within a novel, vacuolar compartment called the inclusion. From within the inclusion, Chlamydia acquire nutrients required for their 2-3 day developmental growth, and they additionally secrete a panel of effector proteins onto the cytosolic face of the vacuole membrane and into the host cytosol. Gaps in our understanding of Chlamydia biology, however, present significant challenges for visualizing and analyzing this intracellular compartment. Recently, a reverse-imaging strategy for visualizing the inclusion using GFP expressing host cells was described. This approach rationally exploits the intrinsic impermeability of the inclusion membrane to large molecules such as GFP. In this work, we describe how GFP- or mCherry-expressing host cells are generated for subsequent visualization of chlamydial inclusions. Furthermore, this method is shown to effectively substitute for costly antibody-based enumeration methods, can be used in tandem with other fluorescent labels, such as GFP-expressing Chlamydia, and can be exploited to derive key quantitative data about inclusion membrane growth from a range of Chlamydia species and strains.

Using Fluorescent Proteins to Visualize and Quantitate Chlamydia Vacuole Growth Dynamics in Living Cells

A live cell fluorescent protein based method for illuminating cellular vacuoles (inclusions) containing Chlamydia is described. This strategy enables rapid, automated determination of Chlamydia infectivity in samples and can be used to quantitatively investigate inclusion growth dynamics.

The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia elicits a great burden on global public health. C.&#160;trachomatis is the leading bacterial cause of ...

Vaccinia Reporter Viruses for Quantifying Viral Function at All Stages of Gene Expression

Poxviruses are a family of double stranded DNA viruses that include active human pathogens such as monkeypox, molluscum contagiousum, and Contagalo virus. The family also includes the smallpox virus, Variola. Due to the complexity of poxvirus replication, many questions still remain regarding their gene expression strategy. In this article we describe the conceptualization and usage of recombinant vaccinia viruses that enable real-time measurement of single and multiple stages of viral gene expression in a high-throughput format. This is enabled through the use of spectrally distinct fluorescent proteins as reporters for each of three stages of viral replication. These viruses provide a high signal-to-noise ratio while retaining stage specific expression patterns, enabling plate-based assays and microscopic observations of virus propagation and replication. These tools have uses for antiviral discovery, studies of the virus-host interaction, and evolutionary biology.

We describe the usage of a fluorescent reporter vaccinia virus that enables real-time measurement of viral infectivity and gene expression through the stage-specific expression of spectrally distinct reporter fluorophores. We detail a plate-based method for accurately identifying the stage at which virus replication is affected in response to small molecule inhibition.

Poxviruses are a family of double stranded DNA viruses that include active human pathogens such as monkeypox, molluscum contagiousum, and Contagalo virus. ...

A Protocol to Infect Caenorhabditis elegans with Salmonella typhimurium

In the last decade, C. elegans has emerged as an invertebrate organism to study interactions between hosts and pathogens, including the host defense against gram-negative bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. Salmonella establishes persistent infection in the intestine of C. elegans and results in early death of infected animals. A number of immunity mechanisms have been identified in C. elegans to defend against Salmonella infections. Autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved lysosomal degradation pathway, has been shown to limit the Salmonella replication in C. elegans and in mammals. Here, a protocol is described to infect C. elegans with Salmonella typhimurium, in which the worms are exposed to Salmonella for a limited time, similar to Salmonella infection in humans. Salmonella infection significantly shortens the lifespan of C. elegans. Using the essential autophagy gene bec-1 as an example, we combined this infection method with C. elegans RNAi feeding approach and showed this protocol can be used to examine the function of C. elegans host genes in defense against Salmonella infection. Since C. elegans whole genome RNAi libraries are available, this protocol makes it possible to comprehensively screen for C. elegans genes that protect against Salmonella and other intestinal pathogens using genome-wide RNAi libraries.

A Protocol to Infect Caenorhabditis elegans with Salmonella typhimurium

C. elegans has emerged as a new genetic model to study host-pathogen interactions. Here we describe a protocol to infect C. elegans with Salmonella typhimurium coupled with the double-strand RNAi interference technique to examine the role of host genes in defense against Salmonella infection.

In the last decade, C. elegans has emerged as an invertebrate organism to study interactions between hosts and pathogens, including the host defense ...

High-throughput Assay to Phenotype Salmonella enterica Typhimurium Association, Invasion, and Replication in Macrophages

Salmonella species are zoonotic pathogens and leading causes of food borne illnesses in humans and livestock1. Understanding the mechanisms underlying Salmonella-host interactions are&#160;important to elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of Salmonella infection. The Gentamicin protection assay to phenotype Salmonella association, invasion and replication in phagocytic cells was adapted to allow high-throughput screening to define the roles of deletion mutants of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium in host interactions using RAW 264.7 murine macrophages. Under this protocol, the variance in measurements is significantly reduced compared to the standard protocol, because wild-type and multiple mutant strains can be tested in the same culture dish and at the same time. The use of multichannel pipettes increases the throughput and enhances precision. Furthermore, concerns related to using less host cells per well in 96-well culture dish were addressed. Here, the protocol of the modified in vitro Salmonella invasion assay using phagocytic cells was successfully employed to phenotype 38 individual Salmonella deletion mutants for association, invasion and intracellular replication. The in vitro phenotypes are presented, some of which were subsequently confirmed to have in vivo phenotypes in an animal model. Thus, the modified, standardized assay to phenotype Salmonella association, invasion and replication in macrophages with high-throughput capacity could be utilized more broadly to study bacterial-host interactions.

High-throughput Assay to Phenotype Salmonella enterica Typhimurium Association, Invasion, and Replication in Macrophages

A high-throughput assay to in vitro phenotype Salmonella or other bacterial association, invasion, and replication in phagocytic cells with high-throughput capacity was developed. The method was employed to evaluate Salmonella gene knockout mutant strains for their involvements in host-pathogen interactions.

Salmonella species are zoonotic pathogens and leading causes of food borne illnesses in humans and livestock1. Understanding the mechanisms underlying ...

Isolation of Murine Peritoneal Macrophages to Carry Out Gene Expression Analysis Upon Toll-like Receptors Stimulation

During infection and inflammation, circulating monocytes leave the bloodstream and migrate into tissues, where they differentiate into macrophages. Macrophages express surface Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which recognize molecular patterns conserved through evolution in a wide range of microorganisms. TLRs play a central role in macrophage activation which is usually associated with gene expression alteration. Macrophages are critical in many diseases and have emerged as attractive targets for therapy. In the following protocol, we describe a procedure to isolate murine peritoneal macrophages using Brewer&#8217;s thioglycollate medium. The latter will boost monocyte migration into the peritoneum, accordingly this will raise macrophage yield by 10-fold. Several studies have been carried out using bone marrow, spleen or peritoneal derived macrophages. However, peritoneal macrophages were shown to be more mature upon isolation and are more stable in their functionality and phenotype. Thus, macrophages isolated from murine peritoneal cavity present an important cell population that can serve in different immunological and metabolic studies. Once isolated, macrophages were stimulated with different TLR ligands and consequently&#160;gene expression was evaluated.

We describe here a simple protocol to isolate murine peritoneal macrophages. This procedure is followed by RNA extraction to carry out gene expression analysis upon Toll-like receptors stimulation.

During infection and inflammation, circulating monocytes leave the bloodstream and migrate into tissues, where they differentiate into macrophages. ...

Gene Expression Profiling of Infecting Microbes Using a Digital Bar-coding Platform

For most mammalian pathogens, gene expression profiling studies have been limited by technical difficulties to accurately quantify pathogen gene transcripts from infected tissues. Pathogen RNA constitutes a tiny portion of the total RNA isolated from infected tissue samples. Both microarray and RNAseq technologies have difficulties in generating reliable reads for weakly expressed pathogen genes. Mutant pathogen strains with reduced in vivo proliferation pose an even bigger challenge. Here we describe an in vivo gene expression profiling protocol that is very fast, extremely sensitive and highly reproducible. We developed this protocol during our investigation of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans in a murine model of hematogenously disseminated candidiasis. Using this protocol, we have documented time courses of dynamically regulated C. albicans gene expression during kidney infection, and discovered unexpected features of gene expression responses to antifungal drug treatment in vivo.

We developed a protocol that is fast, sensitive and reproducible for pathogen gene expression profiling during an infection.

For most mammalian pathogens, gene expression profiling studies have been limited by technical difficulties to accurately quantify pathogen gene ...

Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium-containing Phagosomes from Macrophages

Salmonella typhimurium is a facultative intracellular bacterium that causes gastroenteritis in humans. After invasion of the lamina propria, S. typhimurium bacteria are quickly detected and phagocytized by macrophages, and contained in vesicles known as phagosomes in order to be degraded. Isolation of S. typhimurium-containing phagosomes have been widely used to study how S. typhimurium infection alters the process of phagosome maturation to prevent bacterial degradation. Classically, the isolation of bacteria-containing phagosomes has been performed by sucrose gradient centrifugation. However, this process is time-consuming, and requires specialized equipment and a certain degree of dexterity. Described here is a simple and quick method for the isolation of S. typhimurium-containing phagosomes from macrophages by coating the bacteria with biotin-streptavidin-conjugated magnetic beads. Phagosomes obtained by this method can be suspended in any buffer of choice, allowing the utilization of isolated phagosomes for a broad range of assays, such as protein, metabolite, and lipid analysis. In summary, this method for the isolation of S. typhimurium-containing phagosomes is specific, efficient, rapid, requires minimum equipment, and is more versatile than the classical method of isolation by sucrose gradient-ultracentrifugation.

Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium-containing Phagosomes from Macrophages

We describe here a simple and quick method for the isolation of Salmonella typhimurium-containing phagosomes from macrophages by coating the bacteria with biotin and streptavidin.

Salmonella typhimurium is a facultative intracellular bacterium that causes gastroenteritis in humans. After invasion of the lamina propria, S. ...

Live-Cell Fluorescence Microscopy to Investigate Subcellular Protein Localization and Cell Morphology Changes in Bacteria

Investigations of factors influencing cell division and cell shape in bacteria are commonly performed in conjunction with high-resolution fluorescence microscopy as observations made at a population level may not truly reflect what occurs at a single cell level. Live-cell timelapse microscopy allows investigators to monitor the changes in cell division or cell morphology which provide valuable insights regarding subcellular localization of proteins and timing of gene expression, as it happens, to potentially aid in answering important biological questions. Here, we describe our protocol to monitor phenotypic changes in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus using a high-resolution deconvolution microscope. The objective of this report is to provide a simple and clear protocol that can be adopted by other investigators interested in conducting fluorescence microscopy experiments to study different biological processes in bacteria as well as other organisms.

This article provides a step-by-step guide to investigate protein subcellular localization dynamics and to monitor morphological changes using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus.

Investigations of factors influencing cell division and cell shape in bacteria are commonly performed in conjunction with high-resolution fluorescence ...

NF-&#954;B-dependent Luciferase Activation and Quantification of Gene Expression in Salmonella Infected Tissue Culture Cells

The dimeric transcription factor NF-&#954;B regulates many cellular response pathways, including inflammatory pathways by inducing the expression of various cytokines and chemokines. NF-&#954;B is constitutively expressed and is sequestered in the cytosol by the inhibitory protein nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B cells inhibitor, alpha (I&#954;B&#945;). Activation of NF-&#954;B requires the degradation of I&#954;B&#945;, which then exposes a nuclear localization signal on NF-&#954;B and promotes its trafficking to the nucleus. Once in the nucleus, NF-&#954;B binds to the promotor region of NF-&#954;B target genes such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-23, to promote their expression.
The activation of NF-&#954;B occurs independently of transcription or translation. Therefore, the activation state of NF-&#954;B must be measured either by quantifying NF-&#954;B specifically in the nucleus, or by quantifying expression of NF-&#954;B target genes. In this protocol, cells stably transfected with an NF-&#954;B::luciferase reporter construct are assayed for NF-&#954;B activation using in vitro tissue culture techniques. These cells are infected with Salmonella Typhimurium to activate NF-&#954;B, which traffics to the nucleus and binds to &#954;B sites in the promoter region of luciferase, inducing its expression. Cells are lysed and analyzed with the luciferase assay system. The amount of luciferase produced by the cells correlates with the intensity of the luminescence signal, which is detected by a plate reader. The luminescence signal generated by this procedure provides a quick and highly sensitive method by which to assess NF-&#954;B activation under a range of conditions. This protocol also utilizes quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) to detect relative mRNA levels that are indicative of gene expression.

NF-&amp;#954;B-dependent Luciferase Activation and Quantification of Gene Expression in &lt;em&gt;Salmonella&lt;/em&gt; Infected Tissue Culture Cells

Here, we present a protocol to quickly and easily measure nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-&#954;B) activation in cell lines expressing NF-&#954;B::luciferase reporter constructs, via measurements of luminescence in the cell lysate. Additionally, gene expression is determined via RT-qPCR isolated from cells infected with Salmonella Typhimurium.

The dimeric transcription factor NF-&#954;B regulates many cellular response pathways, including inflammatory pathways by inducing the expression of ...