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High-resolution, long-term characterization of bacterial motility using optical tweezers

Abstract

We present a single-cell motility assay, which allows the quantification of bacterial swimming in a well-controlled environment, for durations of up to an hour and with a temporal resolution greater than the flagellar rotation rates of 100 Hz. The assay is based on an instrument combining optical tweezers, light and fluorescence microscopy, and a microfluidic chamber. Using this device we characterized the long-term statistics of the run-tumble time series in individual Escherichia coli cells. We also quantified higher-order features of bacterial swimming, such as changes in velocity and reversals of swimming direction.

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Figure 1: Combined optical trap and fluorescence microscope setup.
Figure 2: Direct observation of tumbles in an optically trapped cell.
Figure 3: Run-tumble phenotyping using the optical trapping assay.
Figure 4: Run duration statistics in individual bacteria.
Figure 5: Higher-order features in cell motility.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Cluzel (Harvard University) for the gift of the PS2001-pMS164 strain and the following people for their generous advice: C. Guet, H. Park, M. McLachlan, K. Neuman, S. Chattopadhyay, W. Ryu, T. Shimizu, R. Segev, G. Ordal, I. Nemenman, T. Emonet and all members of the Golding, Chemla, Rao, Selvin and Ha laboratories. The work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (grant 082265, Center for the Physics of Living Cells). Y.R.C. is supported by Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface. T.L.M. was supported by National Institutes of Health Institutional National Research Service Award in Molecular Biophysics (PHS 5 T32 GM08276). C.V.R. is supported by National Institutes of Health grant GM054365.

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Contributions

Y.R.C. and I.G. conceived the cell-trapping project. T.L.M. developed the cell-trapping assay. T.L.M. and P.J.M. developed the measurement protocols, performed the experiments and analyzed the data. L.M.C. and C.V.R. constructed and tested bacterial strains used in this study. C.V.R. provided expertise on bacterial physiology and chemotaxis. P.J.M., T.L.M., I.G. and Y.R.C. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Ido Golding.

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Supplementary Figures 1–7, Supplementary Tables 1–3 and Supplementary Notes 1–7 (PDF 774 kb)

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Min, T., Mears, P., Chubiz, L. et al. High-resolution, long-term characterization of bacterial motility using optical tweezers. Nat Methods 6, 831–835 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1380

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