Session M47: Invited Session: Imaging and Manipulating Multicellular Systems and Molecular Clusters

Imaging proteins, cells, and tissues dynamics during embryogenesis with two-photon light sheet microscopy

Light sheet microscopy has gained widespread recognition in recent years due to its distinct advantages for the 3-dimensional imaging of living biological samples. Light sheet microscopy, also known as selective plane illumination microscopy, uses a planar sheet of light to illuminate a sample, generating fluorescence over an optical section of the sample that is collected by a wide-field microscope camera oriented orthogonal to the light sheet. The orthogonal geometry between the illumination and detection pathways enables massive parallelization in both illumination and detection. Furthermore, it allows light illumination to be confined to essentially only the optical section that is being interrogated, minimizing undesired interaction of light with the biological sample. Because of these features, light sheet microscopy significantly outperforms standard imaging modalities in imaging speed, photodamage, and signal to noise in many imaging applications. We recently applied two-photon excitation to light sheet microscopy to improve its penetration depth, allowing long-term imaging of cells deep inside of live embryos. We present a comparison of two-photon light sheet microscopy with other conventional imaging modalities in live imaging of embryos to demonstrate its ability to simultaneously achieve high penetration depth, high acquisition speed, and low photodamage. We also present a selection of applications where two-photon light sheet microscopy is utilized to study the spatio-temporal organization and control of proteins, cells, and tissues during embryogenesis.   

Voltage imaging in vivo with a new class of rhodopsin-based indicators

Reliable, optical detection of single action potentials in an intact brain is one of the longest-standing challenges in neuroscience. We have recently shown that a number of microbial rhodopsins exhibit intrinsic fluorescence that is sensitive to transmembrane potential. One class of indicator, derived from Archaerhodopsin-3 (Arch), responds to voltage transients with a speed and sensitivity that enable near-perfect identification of single action potentials in cultured neurons [Nat Methods. (2011). 9:90-5]. We have extended the use of these indicators to an in vivo context through the application of advanced imaging techniques to the larval zebrafish. Using planar-illumination, spinning-disk confocal, and epifluorescence imaging modalities, we have successfully recorded electrical activity in a variety of fish structures, including the brain and heart, in a completely noninvasive manner. Transgenic lines expressing Arch variants in defined cells enable comprehensive measurements to be made from specific target populations. In parallel, we have also extended the capabilities of our indicators by improving their multiphoton excitability and overall brightness. Microbial rhodopsin-based voltage indicators now enable optical interrogation of complex neural circuits, and electrophysiology in systems for which electrode-based techniques are challenging.   

Spatially and temporally coordinated processes of cells at molecular to cellular scales

Our approach to engineer cellular environments is based on self-organizing spatial positioning of single signaling molecules attached to synthetic extracellular matrices, which offers the highest spatial resolution with respect to the position of single signaling molecules. This approach allows tuning tissue with respect to its most relevant properties, i.e., viscoelasticity, peptide composition, nanotopography and spatial nanopatterning of signaling molecule. Such materials are defined as ``nano-digital materials'' since they enable the counting of individual signaling molecules, separated by a biologically inert background. Within these materials, the regulation of cellular responses is based on a biologically inert background which does not initiate any cell activation, which is then patterned with specific signaling molecules such as peptide ligands in well defined nanoscopic geometries. This approach is very powerful, since it enables the testing of cellular responses to individual, specific signaling molecules and their spatial ordering. We found that integrin cluster have a functional packing density which is defined by an integrin-integrin spacing of approximately 68 nanometers. We have also developed methods which allows the light initiated activation of adhesion processes by switching the chemical composition of the extracellular matrix. This enabled us to identify the frequency of leader cell formation in collective cell migration as a matter of initial cell cluster pattern size and geometry. Moreover, ``nano-digital supports'' such as those described herein are clearly capable of involvement in such dynamic cellular processes as protein ordering at the cell's periphery which in turn leads to programming cell responses.   

From flexibility to cooperativity: multiscale modeling of cadherin-mediated cell adhesion

Cadherins constitute a large family of Ca2$+$-dependent adhesion molecules in the Inter-cellular junctions that play a pivotal role in the assembly of cells into specific three-dimensional tissues. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying cadherin-mediated cell adhesion are still not fully understood, it seems likely that both cis dimers that are formed by binding of extracellular domains of two cadherins on the same cell surface, and trans-dimers formed between cadherins on opposing cell surfaces, are critical to trigger the junction formation. Here we present a new multiscale computational strategy to model the process of junction formation based on the knowledge of cadherin molecular structures and its 3D binding affinities. The cell interfacial region is defined by a simplified system where each of two interacting membrane surfaces is represented as a two-dimensional lattice with each cadherin molecule treated as a randomly diffusing unit. The binding energy for a pair of interacting cadherins in this two-dimensional discrete system is obtained from 3D binding affinities through a renormalization process derived from statistical thermodynamics. The properties of individual cadherins used in the lattice model are based on molecular level simulations. Our results show that within the range of experimentally-measured binding affinities, cadherins condense into junctions driven by the coupling of cis and trans interactions. The key factor appears to be a loss of molecular flexibility during trans dimerization that increases the magnitude of lateral cis interactions. We have also developed stochastic dynamics to study the adhesion of multiple cells. Each cell in the system is described as a mechanical entity and adhesive properties between two cells are derived from the lattice model. The cellular simulations are used to study the specific problems of tissue morphogenesis and tumor metastasis. The consequent question and upcoming challenge is to understand the functional roles of cell adhesion in intracellular signal transduction.   

Adhesion and receptor clustering stabilizes lateral heterogeneity in cell plasma membranes

The thermodynamic properties of plasma membrane lipids play a vital role in many functions that initiate at the mammalian cell surface. Some functions are thought to occur, at least in part, because plasma membrane lipids have a tendency to separate into two distinct liquid phases, called liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered. We find that isolated cell plasma membranes are poised near a miscibility critical point separating these two liquid phases, and postulate that critical composition fluctuations provide the physical basis of functional membrane heterogeneity in intact cells. In this talk I will describe several possible mechanisms through which dynamic fluctuations can be stabilized in super-critical membranes, and will present some preliminary evidence suggesting that these structures can be visualized in intact cells using quantitative super-resolution fluorescence localization imaging.