Professor Achillefs Kapanidis

Abstract:

The influenza virus is a major human and animal pathogen responsible for seasonal epidemics and occasional pandemics. The genome of the influenza A virus comprises eight segments of single-stranded, negative-sense RNA with highly conserved 5' and 3' termini. These termini interact to form a double-stranded promoter structure that is recognized and bound by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RNAP); however, no 3D structural information for the influenza polymerase-bound promoter exists. Functional studies have led to the proposal of several 2D models for the secondary structure of the bound promoter, including a corkscrew model in which the 5' and 3' termini form short hairpins. We have taken advantage of an insect-cell system to prepare large amounts of active recombinant influenza virus RNAP, and used this to develop a highly sensitive single-molecule FRET assay to measure distances between fluorescent dyes located on the promoter and map its structure both with and without the polymerase bound. These advances enabled the direct analysis of the influenza promoter structure in complex with the viral RNAP, and provided 3D structural information that is in agreement with the corkscrew model for the influenza virus promoter RNA. Our data provide insights into the mechanisms of promoter binding by the influenza RNAP and have implications for the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms involved in the transcription of viral genes and replication of the viral RNA genome. In addition, the simplicity of this system should translate readily to the study of any virus polymerase-promoter interaction.

Abstract:

DNA repair safeguards the genome against a diversity of DNA damaging agents. Although the mechanisms of many repair proteins have been examined separately in vitro, far less is known about the coordinated function of the whole repair machinery in vivo. Furthermore, single-cell studies indicate that DNA damage responses generate substantial variation in repair activities across cells. This review focuses on fluorescence imaging methods that offer a quantitative description of DNA repair in single cells by measuring protein concentrations, diffusion characteristics, localizations, interactions, and enzymatic rates. Emerging single-molecule and super-resolution microscopy methods now permit direct visualization of individual proteins and DNA repair events in vivo. We expect much can be learned about the organization of DNA repair by linking cell heterogeneity to mechanistic observations at the molecular level.

Abstract:

In vivo single-molecule fluorescence and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) techniques are excellent tools for studying spatial distribution, the nanoscale structure and conformational changes in living cells. We have recently introduced an electroporation-based method to internalize DNA and proteins labeled with organic fluorophores into living bacteria and established the ability for long-lived single-molecule fluorescence and FRET measurements. However, further developments, such as optimization of electroporation conditions, evaluation of organic fluorophore performance in vivo and quantitative single-cell FRET analysis, are needed to make the method more robust and general. Using singly-labeled DNA fragments, we optimized internalization efficiency and cell viability at six electroporation voltages, achieving >60% loading and viability similar to non-treated cells. We characterized the photostability and brightness of three donor fluorophores and four acceptor fluorophores in vivo; Cy3B, Atto647 and Atto647N performed best with photobleaching lifetimes of ∼20 s, 46 s and 92 s, respectively, and brightness values of ∼4000 photons per second under the same illumination conditions. We used three doubly-labeled DNA FRET standards (having in vitro FRET efficiencies of ∼17%, ∼42%, and ∼88%) and an alternating-laser excitation scheme to measure apparent FRET efficiencies at the single-cell level. We showed that we could differentiate DNA FRET standards at the single-cell level. Our approach offers a powerful method for the study of intramolecular changes or complex formation using FRET at the single-cell level in live bacteria.

Abstract:

Studying the structure and dynamics of proteins in live cells is essential to understanding their physiological activities and mechanisms, and to validating in vitro characterization. Improvements in labeling and imaging technologies are starting to allow such in vivo studies; however, a number of technical challenges remain. Recently, we developed an electroporation-based protocol for internalization, which allows biomolecules labeled with organic fluorophores to be introduced at high efficiency into live E. coli (Crawford et al. in Biophys J 105 (11):2439-2450, 2013). Here, we address important challenges related to internalization of proteins, and optimize our method in terms of (1) electroporation buffer conditions; (2) removal of dye contaminants from stock protein samples; and (3) removal of non-internalized molecules from cell suspension after electroporation. We illustrate the usability of the optimized protocol by demonstrating high-efficiency internalization of a 10-kDa protein, the ω subunit of RNA polymerase. Provided that suggested control experiments are carried out, any fluorescently labeled protein of up to 60 kDa could be internalized using our method. Further, we probe the effect of electroporation voltage on internalization efficiency and cell viability and demonstrate that, whilst internalization increases with increased voltage, cell viability is compromised. However, due to the low number of damaged cells in our samples, the major fraction of loaded cells always corresponds to non-damaged cells. By taking care to include only viable cells into analysis, our method allows physiologically relevant studies to be performed, including in vivo measurements of protein diffusion, localization and intramolecular dynamics via single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer.