06/01/2008
Journal of Structural Biology Cover Article on X-ray Imaging of Cells at Advanced Light Source (ALS)
The Science
X-ray tomography has determined the structure of organelles in yeast cells during different stages of the cell cycle, providing for the first time three-dimensional images that show how the cells change during the cycle. The research is reported in the June issue of the Journal of Structural Biology, with selected images shown on the cover. The authors show that use of the soft X-rays at the ALS enables imaging of cellular components without having to expose the cells to potentially damaging staining reagents. Researchers demonstrated the power of soft X-ray tomography by quantifiably determining the size, shape, and organization of Schizosaccharomyces pombe organelles in stationary phase cells using soft X-ray tomography. In particular, they quantified and characterized the mitochondria and vacuoles in cells that had become stationary during different stages of the cell cycle—freshly budded daughter cells, single mature cells, and mother–daughter cells. They were able to determine how the yeast responds to changes in its environment. They note that the new X-ray microscope being commissioned at the ALS for biological studies will enable further improvements in spatial resolution that should reveal fine structure of microtubules and other components of the cell. This new imaging technique is ideally suited to imaging bioenergy-relevant organisms.
The Impact
In addition to imaging intact cells, soft X-ray tomography has the advantage of not requiring the use of any staining or fixation protocols—cells are simply transferred from their growth environment to a sample holder and immediately cryofixed. In this way the cells can be imaged in a near native state. Soft X-ray tomography is also capable of imaging relatively large numbers of cells in a short period of time, and is therefore a technique that has the potential to produce information on organelle morphology from statistically significant numbers of cells.
Principal Investigator
Carolyn A. Larabell
Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory
BER Program Manager
Amy Swain
U.S. Department of Energy, Biological and Environmental Research (SC-33)
Biological Systems Science Division
[email protected]
References
Parkinson, D. Y., G. McDermott, L. D. Etkin, M. A. Le Gros, and C. A. Larabell. 2008. “Quantitative 3-D Imaging of Eukaryotic Cells Using Soft X-Ray Tomography,” Journal of Structural Biology 162(3), 380–6. DOI:10.1016/j.jsb.2008.02.003.