Research was funded by NIH 1R15GM094770.

1. Colony Isolation and Fixation
<ol>
<li>Incubate 300 colonies on agar medium for the indicated time (an isolated colony should be 1-2 mm in diameter).</li>
<li>Remove colony (face up) and underlying medium using a narrow spatula.</li>
<li>Place several drops of 2% agar 42&deg;C on a microscope slide using 1 mL pipetman tip and immediately place colony on agar face up before it solidifies.</li>
<li>Place several drops of 2% agar 42&deg;C on colony and allow to solidify.</li>
<li>Wear gloves for all steps through the remainder of this protocol</li>
<li>Trim block with razor blade and place them in a 3.5 mL borosilicate screw-cap vial containing 2% paraformaldehyde/2% glutaraldehyde fixative for 7 days at 4&deg;C.</li>
</ol>
2. Washes and Osmium Treatment
<ol>
<li>After about 1 week, wash agar blocks on ice under chemical fume hood by incubating twice for 15 minutes with enough 0.15M sodium cacodylate (pH 7.2) to completely cover the colony (approximately 1.5 mL) then twice more for 5 minutes with the same volume of 1X OS buffer (100 mM KH2PO4 10 mM MgCl2, pH 6.0).</li>
<li>Add the same volume of 1% OsO4 [2 mL OsO4 (2%) + 2 mL 2x OS Buffer] to vials (on ice) to cover the agar blocks under chemical fume hood for 1 hour then wash twice with the same amount of 1X OS buffer for 10 minutes each.</li>
<li>Leave vials overnight at 4&deg;C in 1X OS buffer.</li>
<li>Fixative and all washes in this step are disposed of as hazardous waste. All pipettes containing OsO4 were rinsed 3X with vegetable oil.</li>
</ol> 3. Wash and Dehydration
<ol>
<li>The next morning wash agar blocks twice on ice with the same volume as above of cold water for 10 minutes each using Pasteur pipette.</li>
<li>Wash sequentially with the same volume of 25%,50%,75%,95% ethanol for 10 minutes each followed by 2 washes with 100% ethanol for 10 minutes. Leave overnight at 4&deg;C in 100% ethanol.</li>
<li>All washes in this step are disposed of as hazardous waste.</li>
</ol>
4. Spurr's Preparation
<ol>
<li>The following morning (as early as possible) weigh the following solutions (EM Sciences) into a disposable plastic beaker under a fume hood to prepare Spurr's reagent. For all subsequent work using this reagent, continue to use a fume hood. 
(ERL 4221 solution 5 grams) 
(DER 736 solution 4 grams) 
(NSA solution 13 grams)
</li>
<li>mix these solutions (slowly) for 20 minutes in hood using a stir bar</li>
<li>Add DMAE solution 0.15 grams and stir 20 minutes as above.</li>
<li>Degas above mixture for 1-2 hrs in hood.</li>
</ol>
5. Spurr's Infiltration
<ol>
<li>As soon as Spurr's is made wash agar blocks 5 times with same volume as above of 100% room temp ethanol for 10 minutes each. After the last ethanol wash remove the ethanol using a Pasteur pipette so that the remaining ethanol just covers the agar blocks.</li>
<li>Add approximately an equal amount of Spurr's reagent (approximately 0.5 mL) and rotate vials on wheel for 15 minutes at room temperature and then allow to stand for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the solution completely using a Pasteur pipette, add Spurr's to cover agar block (approximately 1.5 mL), rotate vials on wheel for 15 minutes at room temperature and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Repeat the Spurr's replacement, rotation, and incubation 3 more times.</li>
<li>After the final 30 minutes, remove Spurr's reagent and add fresh Spurr's to cover the blocks. Allow the agar blocks to stand at room temp for 4 hrs.</li>
<li>Replace the Spurr's and rotate overnight.</li>
<li>In the morning replace Spurr's and leave rotating until the following day.</li>
<li>The next morning place Spurr's in numbered silicone molds (Fisher Scientific) just to cover the bottom of molds then add agar blocks to the molds. Incubate at 60&deg;C for 4 hours</li>
<li>After 4 hrs, top off the molds, with more Spurr's and incubate at 60&deg;C overnight.</li>
<li>If after removing the blocks from molds the blocks are still slightly flexible, return to the molds and incubate an additional 2 days</li>
</ol>
6. Sectioning
<ol>
<li>A Leica Ultracut S microtome was used to cut 0.5 &mu; thick sections for light microscopy and 0.1 &mu; thin sections for transmission EM.</li>
<li>For light microscopy, as sections were cut, they were placed on a drop of dH2O, and dried on a 52&deg;C heat block. Dried sections were then stained with a drop of 1.0 % toluidine blue, 1% Sodium Borate for 5-15 seconds. After staining, the sections were immediately washed under a stream of water, dried, covered in mounting media (KPL), and a cover slip sealed over the sample.</li>
</ol>
7. Representative Results:
The broad relevance of measuring pattern formation in yeast and other microorganisms have been reviewed previously 1. Of particular note is the increased functionality of organized microbial colonies relative to disorganized communities.
The described method is a modification of a method for embedding larger specialized colonies 2, and a short description of our modifications has been published 3.
An example of a light micrograph of a section through the center of a colony of wild S. cerevisiae yeast colony is shown in Figure 1. Asci, pseudohyphae and ovoid yeast are easily distinguishable, and the region of the colony invading the underlying agar is also apparent.
An example of an electron micrograph of a laboratory strain of yeast (W303 background) is shown in Figure 2. The image is from a region of the colony containing a high frequency of sporulated cells.
<img src="/files/ftp_upload/2510/2510fig1.jpg" alt="Figure 1" /> 
Figure 1. Light microscopy of a wild yeast colony. This yeast (YPS133) was isolated recently from tree exudates 4. The colony was incubated for 6 days on YNA medium 5 prior to sectioning. Open arrows indicate representative asci, filled arrows indicate representative ovoid vegetative cells, filled arrowheads indicate chains of elongated cells (pseudohyphae) and asci. 
<img src="/files/ftp_upload/2510/2510fig2.jpg" alt="Figure 2" /> 
Figure 2. Electron microscopy of a laboratory yeast strain. The colony of SH1020 (W303 background) was incubated for 6 days on YNA medium prior to sectioning 3. Image shows a region of the section with a high frequency of asci. An arrow indicates the bi-layer structure of the spore wall.
<img src="/files/ftp_upload/2510/2510fig3.jpg" alt="Figure 3" /> 
Figure 3. Quantification of the distribution of sporulated cells in colonies: A) a grid containing 15 adjoining rectangles stacked along their long side is superimposed on the central region of an image of a colony section. The grid is scaled, while keeping its proportions constant, to just covers the top and bottom of the colony. (B &amp; C) The fraction of sporulated cells in each rectangle relative to the total cells in that rectangle is determined by visual inspection of images from 4-day old (B) and 8-day old (C) colonies. For example, the rectangle at the top of the colony (labeled "1") corresponds to the left side of the graph. Mean of 4 colonies is shown; the error bars display the std. error.

<ol>
	<li>Kimmel, A. R., Firtel, R. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Breaking+symmetries:+regulation+of+Dictyostelium+development+through+chemoattractant+and+morphogen+signal-response.">Breaking symmetries: regulation of Dictyostelium development through chemoattractant and morphogen signal-response.</a> Curr Opin Genet Dev. 14, 540-540 (2004).</li><li>Palkova, Z., Vachova, L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Life+within+a+community:+benefit+to+yeast+long-term+survival.">Life within a community: benefit to yeast long-term survival.</a> FEMS Microbiol Rev. 30, 806-806 (2006).</li><li>Shapiro, J., Vachova, L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+significances+of+bacterial+colony+patterns.">The significances of bacterial colony patterns.</a> Bioessays. 17, 597-597 (1995).</li><li>Shapiro, J., Vachova, L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Thinking+about+bacterial+populations+as+multicellular+organisms.">Thinking about bacterial populations as multicellular organisms.</a> Annu Rev Microbiol. 52, 81-81 (1998).</li><li>Engelberg, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Multicellular+stalk-like+structures+in+Saccharomyces+cerevisiae.">Multicellular stalk-like structures in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.</a> J Bacteriol. 180, 3992-3992 (1998).</li><li>Scherz, R., Shinder, V., Engelberg, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Anatomical+analysis+of+Saccharomyces+cerevisiae+stalk-like+structures+reveals+spatial+organization+and+cell+specialization.">Anatomical analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae stalk-like structures reveals spatial organization and cell specialization.</a> J Bacteriol. 183, 5402-5402 (2001).</li><li>Piccirillo, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+Rim101p/PacC+pathway+and+alkaline+pH+regulate+pattern+formation+in+yeast+colonies.">The Rim101p/PacC pathway and alkaline pH regulate pattern formation in yeast colonies.</a> Genetics. 184, 707-707 (2010).</li><li>Sniegowski, P. D., Dombrowski, P. G., Fingerman, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Saccharomyces+cerevisiae+and+Saccharomyces+paradoxus+coexist+in+a+natural+woodland+site+in+North+America+and+display+different+levels+of+reproductive+isolation+from+European+conspecifics.">Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces paradoxus coexist in a natural woodland site in North America and display different levels of reproductive isolation from European conspecifics.</a> FEMS Yeast Res. 1, 299-299 (2002).</li><li>Piccirillo, S., Honigberg, S. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Sporulation+patterning+and+invasive+growth+in+wild+and+domesticated+yeast+colonies.">Sporulation patterning and invasive growth in wild and domesticated yeast colonies.</a> Res Microbiol. 161, 390-390 (2002).</li><li>Vachova, L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Architecture+of+developing+multicellular+yeast+colony:+spatio-temporal+expression+of+Ato1p+ammonium+exporter.">Architecture of developing multicellular yeast colony: spatio-temporal expression of Ato1p ammonium exporter.</a> Environ Microbiol. , (2009).</li></ol>

No conflicts of interest declared.

The method presented reveals the interior structures of colonies. Because the method is effective in determining patterns of cell types in a range of S. cerevisiae strains with different colony morphologies, and also in a related species S. paradoxus 5, the method is also likely to work on a wide range of fungi and other microorganisms.
One critical step for the success of the method is to ensure that the entire colony, including the top of the colony, is encased in agar ...

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">	
		
		<div>
		<table border="1">
		<thead>
		<tr>
		<th>Material Name</th>
		<th>Type</th>
		<th>Company</th>
		<th>Catalogue Number</th>
		<th>Comment</th>
		</tr>
		</thead>
		<tbody>
		
<tr>
<td>Osmium tetroxide</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
<td>RT 19152</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Silicone embedding molds</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
<td>NC 9975029</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Cycloaliphatic epoxide resin</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
<td>RT 15004</td>
<td>ERL 4221</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Epoxy resin</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
<td>RT 13000</td>
<td>DER 736</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Nonenyl Succinic Anhydride</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
<td>RT 19050</td>
<td>NSA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2-Dimethyl aminoethanol	</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences</td>
<td>RT 13300</td>
<td>DMAE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mounting media</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>KPL</td>
<td>71-00-16</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Rotating wheel</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Ted Pella</td>
<td>Pelco 1055</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<tr>
<td>Microtome</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>Leica</td>
<td>Ultracut S</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>		</tbody>
		</table>
		</div>

yeast colony embedding method

Patterning of different cell types in embryos is a key mechanism in metazoan development. Communities of microorganisms, such as colonies and biofilms also display patterns of cell types. For example, in the yeast S. cerevisiae, sporulated cells and pseudohyphal cells are not uniformly distributed in colonies. The functional importance of patterning and the molecular mechanisms that underlie these patterns are still poorly understood.
One challenge with respect to investigating patterns of cell types in fungal colonies is that unlike metazoan tissue, cells in colonies are relatively weakly attached to one another. In particular, fungal colonies do not contain the same extensive level of extracellular matrix found in most tissues . Here we report on a method for embedding and sectioning yeast colonies that reveals the interior patterns of cell types in these colonies. The method can be used to prepare thick sections (0.5 &mu;) useful for light microscopy and thin sections (0.1 &mu;) suitable for transmission electron microscopy. Asci and pseudohyphal cells can easily be distinguished from ovoid yeast cells by light microscopy , while the interior structure of these cells can be visualized by EM.
The method is based on surrounding colonies with agar, infiltrating them with Spurr's medium, and then sectioning. Colonies with a diameter in the range of 1-2 mm are suitable for this protocol. In addition to visualizing the interior of colonies, the method allows visualization of the region of the colony that invades the underlying agar.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Yeast Colony Embedding Method at JoVE.com

Yeast Colony Embedding Method

A method for embedding yeast colonies allowing sectioning for light and electron microscopy. This protocol allows determination of the distribution of sporulated cells and pseudohyphal cells within colonies providing a new tool toward understanding the organization of cell types within a fungal community.

Patterning of  different cell types in embryos is a key mechanism in metazoan development. Communities of microorganisms, such as colonies and biofilms ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

11.4K Görüntüleme.  University of Missouri - Kansas City. Işık ve elektron mikroskopi için kesit maya kolonileri izin gömmek için bir yöntem. Bu protokol, bir mantar toplum içinde hücre tiplerinin organizasyon anlayışına yönelik yeni bir araç sağlayan koloniler içinde sporulated hücreleri ve pseudohyphal hücrelerin dağılımı belirliyor.

Video: Yeast Colony Embedding Method

Plastic Embedding and Sectioning of Xenopus laevis Embryos

Plastic sections maintain true tissue morphology in thin sections of tissue that can be immunostained with fluorescent secondary antibodies, making this method more useful than paraffin-embedded or frozen sections for many types of tissue. The method for staining, plastic embedding, and sectioning is demonstrated in this video.

Measuring Replicative Life Span in the Budding Yeast

Aging is a degenerative process characterized by a progressive deterioration of cellular components and organelles resulting in mortality. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used extensively to study the biology of aging, and several determinants of yeast longevity have been shown to be conserved in multicellular eukaryotes, including worms, flies, and mice 1. Due to the lack of easily quantified age-associated phenotypes, aging in yeast has been assayed almost exclusively by measuring the life span of cells in different contexts, with two different life span paradigms in common usage 2. Chronological life span refers to the length of time that a mother cell can survive in a non-dividing, quiescence-like state, and is proposed to serve as a model for aging of post-mitotic cells in multicellular eukaryotes. Replicative life span, in contrast, refers the number of daughter cells produced by a mother cell prior to senescence, and is thought to provide a model of aging in mitotically active cells. Here we present a generalized protocol for measuring the replicative life span of budding yeast mother cells. The goal of the replicative life span assay is to determine how many times each mother cell buds. The mother and daughter cells can be easily differentiated by an experienced researcher using a standard light microscope (total magnification 160X), such as the Zeiss Axioscope 40 or another comparable model. Physical separation of daughter cells from mother cells is achieved using a manual micromanipulator equipped with a fiber-optic needle. Typical laboratory yeast strains produce 20-30 daughter cells per mother and one life span experiment requires 2-3 weeks.

In this article we present a general protocol for measuring the replicative life span of yeast mother cells.

Aging is a degenerative process characterized by a progressive deterioration of cellular components and organelles resulting in mortality. The budding ...

Purification of Mitochondria from Yeast Cells

Mitochondria are the main site of ATP production during aerobic metabolism in eukaryotic non-photosynthetic cells1. These complex organelles also play essential roles in apoptotic cell death2, cell survival3, mammalian development4, neuronal development and function4, intracellular signalling5, and longevity regulation6. Our understanding of these complex biological processes controlled by mitochondria relies on robust methods for assessing their morphology, their protein and lipid composition, the integrity of their DNA, and their numerous vital functions. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a genetically and biochemically manipulable unicellular eukaryote with annotated genome and well-defined proteome, is a valuable model for studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying essential biological functions of mitochondria. For these types of studies, it is crucial to have highly pure mitochondria. Here we present a detailed description of a rapid and effective method for purification of yeast mitochondria. This method enables the isolation of highly pure mitochondria that are essentially free of contamination by other organelles and retain their structural and functional integrity after their purification. Mitochondria purified by this method are suitable for cell-free reconstitution of essential mitochondrial processes and can be used for the analysis of mitochondrial structure and functions, mitochondrial proteome and lipidome, and mitochondrial DNA.

We describe a rapid and effective method for purification of mitochondria from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This method enables the high-yield isolation of pure mitochondria that are essentially free of contamination by other organelles and retain their structural and functional integrity after their purification.

Mitochondria are the main site of ATP production during aerobic metabolism in eukaryotic non-photosynthetic cells1. These complex organelles also play ...

High-throughput Yeast Plasmid Overexpression Screen

The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a powerful model system for defining fundamental mechanisms of many important cellular processes, including those with direct relevance to human disease. Because of its short generation time and well-characterized genome, a major experimental advantage of the yeast model system is the ability to perform genetic screens to identify genes and pathways that are involved in a given process. Over the last thirty years such genetic screens have been used to elucidate the cell cycle, secretory pathway, and many more highly conserved aspects of eukaryotic cell biology 1-5. In the last few years, several genomewide libraries of yeast strains and plasmids have been generated 6-10. These collections now allow for the systematic interrogation of gene function using gain- and loss-of-function approaches 11-16. Here we provide a detailed protocol for the use of a high-throughput yeast transformation protocol with a liquid handling robot to perform a plasmid overexpression screen, using an arrayed library of 5,500 yeast plasmids. We have been using these screens to identify genetic modifiers of toxicity associated with the accumulation of aggregation-prone human neurodegenerative disease proteins. The methods presented here are readily adaptable to the study of other cellular phenotypes of interest.

Here we describe a plasmid overexpression screen in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using an arrayed plasmid library and a high-throughput yeast transformation protocol with a liquid handling robot.

The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a powerful model system for defining fundamental mechanisms of many important cellular processes, ...

Competitive Genomic Screens of Barcoded Yeast Libraries

By virtue of advances in next generation sequencing technologies, we have access to new genome sequences almost daily. The tempo of these advances is accelerating, promising greater depth and breadth. In light of these extraordinary advances, the need for fast, parallel methods to define gene function becomes ever more important. Collections of genome-wide deletion mutants in yeasts and E. coli have served as workhorses for functional characterization of gene function, but this approach is not scalable, current gene-deletion approaches require each of the thousands of genes that comprise a genome to be deleted and verified. Only after this work is complete can we pursue high-throughput phenotyping. Over the past decade, our laboratory has refined a portfolio of competitive, miniaturized, high-throughput genome-wide assays that can be performed in parallel. This parallelization is possible because of the inclusion of DNA 'tags', or 'barcodes,' into each mutant, with the barcode serving as a proxy for the mutation and one can measure the barcode abundance to assess mutant fitness. In this study, we seek to fill the gap between DNA sequence and barcoded mutant collections. To accomplish this we introduce a combined transposon disruption-barcoding approach that opens up parallel barcode assays to newly sequenced, but poorly characterized microbes. To illustrate this approach we present a new Candida albicans barcoded disruption collection and describe how both microarray-based and next generation sequencing-based platforms can be used to collect 10,000 - 1,000,000 gene-gene and drug-gene interactions in a single experiment.

We have developed comprehensive, unbiased genome-wide screens to understand gene-drug and gene-environment interactions. Methods for screening these mutant collections are presented.

By virtue of advances in next generation sequencing technologies, we have access to new genome sequences almost daily.  The tempo of these advances is ...

A Quantitative Assay for Insulin-expressing Colony-forming Progenitors

The field of pancreatic stem and progenitor cell biology has been hampered by a lack of in vitro functional and quantitative assays that allow for the analysis of the single cell. Analyses of single progenitors are of critical importance because they provide definitive ways to unequivocally demonstrate the lineage potential of individual progenitors. Although methods have been devised to generate "pancreatospheres" in suspension culture from single cells, several limitations exist. First, it is time-consuming to perform single cell deposition for a large number of cells, which in turn commands large volumes of culture media and space. Second, numeration of the resulting pancreatospheres is labor-intensive, especially when the frequency of the pancreatosphere-initiating progenitors is low. Third, the pancreatosphere assay is not an efficient method to allow both the proliferation and differentiation of pancreatic progenitors in the same culture well, restricting the usefulness of the assay.
To overcome these limitations, a semi-solid media based colony assay for pancreatic progenitors has been developed and is presented in this report. This method takes advantage of an existing concept from the hematopoietic colony assay, in which methylcellulose is used to provide viscosity to the media, allowing the progenitor cells to stay in three-dimensional space as they undergo proliferation as well as differentiation. To enrich insulin-expressing colony-forming progenitors from a heterogeneous population, we utilized cells that express neurogenin (Ngn) 3, a pancreatic endocrine progenitor cell marker. Murine embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived Ngn3 expressing cells tagged with the enhanced green fluorescent protein reporter were sorted and as many as 25,000 cells per well were plated into low-attachment 24-well culture dishes. Each well contained 500 &mu;L of semi-solid media with the following major components: methylcellulose, Matrigel, nicotinamide, exendin-4, activin &beta;B, and conditioned media collected from murine ES cell-derived pancreatic-like cells. After 8 to 12 days of culture, insulin-expressing colonies with distinctive morphology were formed and could be further analyzed for pancreatic gene expression using quantitative RT-PCR and immunoflourescent staining to determine the lineage composition of each colony.
In summary, our colony assay allows easy detection and quantification of functional progenitors within a heterogeneous population of cells. In addition, the semi-solid media format allows uniform presentation of extracellular matrix components and growth factors to cells, enabling progenitors to proliferate and differentiate in vitro. This colony assay provides unique opportunities for mechanistic studies of pancreatic progenitor cells at the single cell level.

A three-dimensional clonogenic assay that allows pancreatic-like progenitors to differentiate into insulin-expressing colonies is described. This method takes advantage of semi-solid media containing methylcellulose, Matrigel and growth factors, in which single progenitors proliferate and differentiate in vitro, permitting quantification of the number of functional progenitors in a population.

The field of pancreatic stem and progenitor cell biology has been hampered by a lack of in vitro functional and quantitative assays that allow for the ...

Chromatographic Purification of Highly Active Yeast Ribosomes

Eukaryotic ribosomes are much more labile as compared to their eubacterial and archael counterparts, thus posing a significant challenge to researchers. Particularly troublesome is the fact that lysis of cells releases a large number of proteases and nucleases which can degrade ribosomes. Thus, it is important to separate ribosomes from these enzymes as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, conventional differential ultracentrifugation methods leaves ribosomes exposed to these enzymes for unacceptably long periods of time, impacting their structural integrity and functionality. To address this problem, we utilize a chromatographic method using a cysteine charged Sulfolink resin. This simple and rapid application significantly reduces co-purifying proteolytic and nucleolytic activities, producing high yields of intact, highly biochemically active yeast ribosomes. We suggest that this method should also be applicable to mammalian ribosomes. The simplicity of the method, and the enhanced purity and activity of chromatographically purified ribosome represents a significant technical advancement for the study of eukaryotic ribosomes.

Contamination of preparations of eukaryotic ribosomes purified by traditional methods by co-purifying nucleases and proteases negatively impacts on downstream biochemical and structural analyses. A rapid and simple chromatographic purification method is used to solve this problem using yeast ribosomes as a model system.

Eukaryotic ribosomes are much more labile as compared to their eubacterial and archael counterparts, thus posing a significant challenge to researchers.  ...

The Soft Agar Colony Formation Assay

Anchorage-independent growth is the ability of transformed cells to grow independently of a solid surface, and is a hallmark of carcinogenesis. The soft agar colony formation assay is a well-established method for characterizing this capability in vitro and is considered to be one of the most stringent tests for malignant transformation in cells. This assay also allows for semi-quantitative evaluation of this capability in response to various treatment conditions. Here, we will demonstrate the soft agar colony formation assay using a murine lung carcinoma cell line, CMT167, to demonstrate the tumor suppressive effects of two members of the Wnt signaling pathway, Wnt7A and Frizzled-9 (Fzd-9). Concurrent overexpression of Wnt7a and Fzd-9 caused an inhibition of colony formation in CMT167 cells. This shows that expression of Wnt7a ligand and its Frizzled-9 receptor is sufficient to suppress tumor growth in a murine lung carcinoma model.

The soft agar colony formation assay is a method used to confirm cellular anchorage-independent growth in vitro. The goal of this protocol is to illustrate a stringent method for the detection of the tumorigenic potential of transformed cells and the tumor suppressive effects of proteins on transformed cells.

Anchorage-independent growth is the ability of transformed cells to grow independently of a solid surface, and is a hallmark of carcinogenesis. The soft ...

Microscopy of Fission Yeast Sexual Lifecycle

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been an invaluable model system in studying the regulation of the mitotic cell cycle progression, the mechanics of cell division and cell polarity. Furthermore, classical experiments on its sexual reproduction have yielded results pivotal to current understanding of DNA recombination and meiosis. More recent analysis of fission yeast mating has raised interesting questions on extrinsic stimuli response mechanisms, polarized cell growth and cell-cell fusion. To study these topics in detail we have developed a simple protocol for microscopy of the entire sexual lifecycle. The method described here is easily adjusted to study specific mating stages. Briefly, after being grown to exponential phase in a nitrogen-rich medium, cell cultures are shifted to a nitrogen-deprived medium for periods of time suited to the stage of the sexual lifecycle that will be explored. Cells are then mounted on custom, easily built agarose pad chambers for imaging. This approach allows cells to be monitored from the onset of mating to the final formation of spores.

We provide a reproducible basic method for the long-term microscopy of the fission yeast sexual lifecycle. With minor adjustments described, the presented protocol allows research focus on different steps of the reproductive process.

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been an invaluable model system in studying the regulation of the mitotic cell cycle progression, the ...

ODELAY: A Large-scale Method for Multi-parameter Quantification of Yeast Growth

Growth phenotypes of microorganisms are a strong indicator of their underlying genetic fitness and can be segregated into 3 growth regimes: lag-phase, log-phase, and stationary-phase. Each growth phase can reveal different aspects of fitness that are related to various environmental and genetic conditions. High-resolution and quantitative measurements of all 3 phases of growth are generally difficult to obtain. Here we present a detailed method to characterize all 3 growth phases on solid media using an assay called One-cell Doubling Evaluation of Living Arrays of Yeast (ODELAY). ODELAY quantifies growth phenotypes of individual cells growing into colonies on solid media using time-lapse microscopy. This method can directly observe population heterogeneity with each growth parameter in genetically identical cells growing into colonies. This population heterogeneity offers a unique perspective for understanding genetic and epigenetic regulation, and responses to genetic and environmental perturbations. While the ODELAY method is demonstrated using yeast, it can be utilized on any colony forming microorganism that is visible by bright field microscopy.

We present a method for quantifying growth phenotypes of individual yeast cells as they grow into colonies on solid media using time-lapse microscopy termed, One-cell Doubling Evaluation of Living Arrays of Yeast (ODELAY). Population heterogeneity of genetically identical cells growing into colonies can be directly observed and quantified.

Growth phenotypes of microorganisms are a strong indicator of their underlying genetic fitness and can be segregated into 3 growth regimes: lag-phase, ...