Optical disassembly of cellular clusters by tunable 'tug-of-war' tweezers.
Optical disassembly of cellular clusters by tunable 'tug-of-war' tweezers.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1038/lsa.2016.158
复制
发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
细菌生物膜是许多持续性感染的基础，构成了抗生素治疗的主要障碍。在这里，我们设计并演示了“拔河”光钳，它可以促进细胞-细胞黏附的评估-由于光学散射和梯度力的共同作用，细胞黏附是生物膜形成的关键因素。凭借与传统镊子不同的定制光学景观，这种拔河镊子不仅可以在观察平面上稳定地捕获和拉伸杆状细菌，更重要的是，它们还可以施加可调的侧向力，在没有任何系链或机械运动的情况下将细胞团拉开。作为原理的证明，我们研究了一株形成坚固生物膜的苜蓿中华根瘤菌，发现细胞间黏附的强度取决于生长介质。这项技术可能预示着光学操纵和生物膜研究以及其他生物学应用的新的光子工具。
Bacterial biofilms underlie many persistent infections, posing major hurdles in antibiotic treatment. Here we design and demonstrate ‘tug-of-war’ optical tweezers that can facilitate the assessment of cell–cell adhesion—a key contributing factor to biofilm development, thanks to the combined actions of optical scattering and gradient forces. With a customized optical landscape distinct from that of conventional tweezers, not only can such ‘tug-of-war’ tweezers stably trap and stretch a rod-shaped bacterium in the observing plane, but, more importantly, they can also impose a tunable lateral force that pulls apart cellular clusters without any tethering or mechanical movement. As a proof of principle, we examined a Sinorhizobium meliloti strain that forms robust biofilms and found that the strength of intercellular adhesion depends on the growth medium. This technique may herald new photonic tools for optical manipulation and biofilm study, as well as other biological applications.