In vivo imaging of S-layer nanoarrays on Corynebacterium glutamicum.

Full Abstract

Crystalline bacterial cell surface layers (S-layers) are monomolecular arrays of (glyco)proteins that have recently produced a wealth of new opportunities in nanotechnology. Whereas the in vitro imaging of isolated S-layers is well established, their direct imaging on live cells remains very challenging. Here we use atomic force microscopy (AFM) to visualize S-layer nanoarrays on living Corynebacterium glutamicum bacteria. We demonstrate the presence of two highly ordered surface layers. The most external layer represents the hexagonal S-layer, and the inner layer displays regular patterns of nanogrooves that could act as a biomolecular template promoting the 2-D assembly of S-layer monomers. These nanoscale analyses open new avenues for understanding the structure of protein monomolecular arrays, which is a crucial challenge in current nanoscience and life science research.

Author information

Author/s: Dupres, Vincent (V); Alsteens, David (D); Pauwels, Kristof (K); Dufrêne, Yves F (YF);

Affiliation: Unite de Chimie des Interfaces, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud 2/18, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids (Langmuir), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 25 (issue 17) : pp 9653-5

Dates: Created 2009/08/26; Completed 2009/11/03;

PMID: 19642621, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/3/2009, IMS Date: )

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