Click-correlative light and electron microscopy (click-AT-CLEM) for imaging and tracking azido-functionalized sphingolipids in bacteria

Abstract Sphingolipids, including ceramides, are a diverse group of structurally related lipids composed of a sphingoid base backbone coupled to a fatty acid side chain and modified terminal hydroxyl group. Recently, it has been shown that sphingolipids show antimicrobial activity against a broad ra...

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Autores principales: Simon Peters, Lena Kaiser, Julian Fink, Fabian Schumacher, Veronika Perschin, Jan Schlegel, Markus Sauer, Christian Stigloher, Burkhard Kleuser, Jürgen Seibel, Alexandra Schubert-Unkmeir
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/c1934010a96e45aa82d122a97033f33c
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Sumario:Abstract Sphingolipids, including ceramides, are a diverse group of structurally related lipids composed of a sphingoid base backbone coupled to a fatty acid side chain and modified terminal hydroxyl group. Recently, it has been shown that sphingolipids show antimicrobial activity against a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms. The antimicrobial mechanism, however, remains so far elusive. Here, we introduce ‘click-AT-CLEM’, a labeling technique for correlated light and electron microscopy (CLEM) based on the super-resolution array tomography (srAT) approach and bio-orthogonal click chemistry for imaging of azido-tagged sphingolipids to directly visualize their interaction with the model Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria meningitidis at subcellular level. We observed ultrastructural damage of bacteria and disruption of the bacterial outer membrane induced by two azido-modified sphingolipids by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Click-AT-CLEM imaging and mass spectrometry clearly revealed efficient incorporation of azido-tagged sphingolipids into the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria as underlying cause of their antimicrobial activity.