Chapter 23 Defining assembly pathways by fluorescence microscopy

Abdelrahim Zoued (1) , Andreas Diepold (2)

1 LISM - Laboratoire d'ingénierie des systèmes macromoléculaires
2 Philipps Universität Marburg = Philipps University of Marburg

Bacterial secretion systems are amongst the largest protein complexes in prokaryotes, and display remarkably complex architectures. Their assembly often follows clearly defined pathways. Deciphering these pathways not only reveals how bacteria accomplish to build these large functional complexes, but can provide crucial information on the interactions and subcomplexes within secretion systems, their distribution within the bacterium, and even functional insights. The emergence of fluorescent proteins has provided a new powerful tool for biological imaging, and the use of fluorescently labeled components presents an interesting method to accurately define the biogenesis of macromolecular complexes. Here, we describe the use of this method to decipher the assembly pathway of bacterial secretion systems.

Mots clés: Fluorescence microscopy; biogenesis; secretion systems; fluorescently labeled proteins; macromolecular complexes; epistasis experiments; subcellular localization

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Biochimie, Biologie Moléculaire; Biochimie [q-bio.BM]; Biologie moléculaire; Bactériologie

Abdelrahim Zoued, Andreas Diepold. Chapter 23 Defining assembly pathways by fluorescence microscopy. Methods Mol Biol , 2017. ⟨hal-01780738⟩