Quantifying protein densities on cell membranes using super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging

Surface molecules, distributed in diverse patterns and clusters on cell membranes, influence vital functions of living cells. It is therefore important to understand their molecular surface organisation under different physiological and pathological conditions. Here, we present a model-free, quantitative method to determine the distribution of cell surface molecules based on TIRF illumination and super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). This SOFI-based approach is robust towards single emitter multiple-blinking events, high labelling densities and high blinking rates. In SOFI, the molecular density is not based on counting events, but results as an intrinsic property due to the correlation of the intensity fluctuations. The effectiveness and robustness of the method was validated using simulated data, as well as experimental data investigating the impact of palmitoylation on CD4 protein nanoscale distribution in the plasma membrane of resting T cells.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures plus Supplementary Informatio

Quantitative Analyse von Membrankomponenten mittels hochauflösender Fluoreszenzmikroskopie

The plasma membrane is one of the most thoroughly studied and at the same time most complex, diverse, and least understood cellular structures. Its function is determined by the molecular composition as well as the spatial arrangement of its components. Even after decades of extensive membrane research and the proposal of dozens of models and theories, the structural organization of plasma membranes remains largely unknown. Modern imaging tools such as super-resolution fluorescence microscopy are one of the most efficient techniques in life sciences and are widely used to study the spatial arrangement and quantitative behavior of biomolecules in fixed and living cells. In this work, direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM) was used to investigate the structural distribution of mem-brane components with virtually molecular resolution. Key issues are different preparation and staining strategies for membrane imaging as well as localization-based quantitative analyses of membrane molecules. An essential precondition for the spatial and quantitative analysis of membrane components is the prevention of photoswitching artifacts in reconstructed localization microscopy images. Therefore, the impact of irradiation intensity, label density and photoswitching behavior on the distribution of plasma membrane and mitochondrial membrane proteins in dSTORM images was investigated. It is demonstrated that the combination of densely labeled plasma membranes and inappropriate photoswitching rates induces artificial membrane clusters. Moreover, inhomogeneous localization distributions induced by projections of three-dimensional membrane structures such as microvilli and vesicles are prone to generate artifacts in images of biological membranes. Alternative imaging techniques and ways to prevent artifacts in single-molecule localization microscopy are presented and extensively discussed. Another central topic addresses the spatial organization of glycosylated components covering the cell membrane. It is shown that a bioorthogonal chemical reporter system consisting of modified monosaccharide precursors and organic fluorophores can be used for specific labeling of membrane-associated glycoproteins and –lipids. The distribution of glycans was visualized by dSTORM showing a homogeneous molecule distribution on different mammalian cell lines without the presence of clusters. An absolute number of around five million glycans per cell was estimated and the results show that the combination of metabolic labeling, click chemistry, and single-molecule localization microscopy can be efficiently used to study cell surface glycoconjugates. In a third project, dSTORM was performed to investigate low-expressing receptors on cancer cells which can act as targets in personalized immunotherapy. Primary multiple myeloma cells derived from the bone marrow of several patients were analyzed for CD19 expression as potential target for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells. Depending on the patient, 60–1,600 CD19 molecules per cell were quantified and functional in vitro tests demonstrate that the threshold for CD19 CAR T recognition is below 100 CD19 molecules per target cell. Results are compared with flow cytometry data, and the important roles of efficient labeling and appropriate control experiments are discussed.Die Plasmamembran gehört zu den am meisten untersuchten, gleichzeitig aber auch zu den komplexesten, vielfältigsten und am wenigsten verstandenen biologischen Strukturen. Ihre Funktion wird nicht nur durch die molekulare Zusammensetzung bestimmt, sondern auch durch die räumliche Anordnung ihrer Bestandteile. Selbst nach Jahrzehnten intensiver Forschung und der Veröffentlichung dutzender Membranmodelle und Theorien bleibt die genaue strukturelle Organisation der Plasmamembran ein Rätsel. Moderne Bildgebungsverfahren wie etwa die hochauflösende Fluoreszenzmikroskopie gehören mittlerweile zu den effizientesten Techniken der Lebenswissenschaften und werden immer öfter verwendet, um die räumliche Anordnung als auch die Anzahl von Biomolekülen in fixierten und lebenden Zellen zu studieren. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde die hochauflösende Mikroskopie-Methode dSTORM (direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy) angewendet, um die räumliche Verteilung von Membranmolekülen mit annähernd molekularer Auflösung zu untersuchen. Schwerpunkte dieser Arbeit sind dabei verschiedene Präparations- und Färbemethoden für die mikroskopische Untersuchung von Zellmembranen sowie lokalisationsbasierte quantitative Analysemethoden von Membranmolekülen. Eine Voraussetzung für die räumliche als auch quantitative Analyse von Membranmolekülen ist die Vermeidung von Photoschalt-Artefakten in rekonstruierten Lokalisationsmikroskopie-Bildern. Um dies genauer zu demonstrieren, wurden die Auswirkungen von Anregungsintensität, Markierungsdichte und verändertem Photoschalten auf die räumliche Verteilung von Proteinen der Plasma- und Mitochondrienmembran in dSTORM-Bildern analysiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass eine dicht markierte Plasmamembran in Kombination mit ungeeigneten Photoschaltraten zu artifiziellen Clustern in der Membran führt. Es sind vor Allem oft die Projektionen dreidimensionaler Membranstrukturen wie etwa Mikrovilli und Vesikel dafür verantwortlich, dass lokale Unterschiede in der Lokalisationsdichte entstehen, wodurch unter Umständen Bildartefakte generiert werden können. Darüber hinaus werden alternative Mikroskopie-Methoden und Möglichkeiten, Artefakte in Einzelmolekül-Lokalisationsmikroskopie-Bildern zu verhindern, präsentiert und ausführlich diskutiert. Ein weiteres zentrales Thema dieser Arbeit ist die räumliche Anordnung von glykosylierten Membranmolekülen. Es wird demonstriert, wie ein bioorthogonales chemisches Reportersystem bestehend aus modifizierten Monosacchariden und organischen Fluorophoren für die spezifische Markierung von Membran-assoziierten Glykoproteinen und –lipiden eingesetzt werden kann. Mittels dSTORM wird gezeigt, dass die Verteilung von Glykanen in der Plasmamembran unterschiedlicher Zelllinien homogen und frei von Clustern ist. Des Weiteren zeigt eine quantitative Analyse, dass sich in etwa fünf Millionen Glykane auf einer einzigen Zelle befinden. Die Ergebnisse demonstrieren, dass die Kombination aus metabolisch markierten Zielmolekülen, Click-Chemie und Einzelmolekül-Lokalisationsmikroskopie effizient genutzt werden kann, um Glykokonjugate auf Zelloberflächen zu untersuchen. In einem dritten Projekt wurde dSTORM zur Untersuchung von Rezeptormolekülen auf Krebszellen verwendet. Die Expression dieser Oberflächenproteine ist so gering, dass sich nur wenige Moleküle auf einer Zelle befinden, die jedoch als Zielmoleküle in der personalisierten Immuntherapie dienen könnten. Dafür wurden primäre Tumorzellen aus dem Knochenmark von Patienten, die am Multiplen Myelom erkrankt sind, auf die Expression des CD19-Oberflächenproteins als potentielles Ziel für CAR-modifizierte T-Zellen (chimeric antigen receptor) untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, dass sich, abhängig vom untersuchten Patienten, auf einer Zelle 60 bis 1600 CD19-Moleküle befinden. Funktionale in-vitro-Experimente demonstrieren, dass weniger als 100 CD19 Moleküle ausreichen, um CD19-CAR-T-Zellen zu aktivieren. Diese Ergebnisse werden mit Durchflusszytometrie-Daten verglichen und die wichtige Rolle von Lebendzellfärbung und geeigneten Kontrollexperimenten wird diskutiert

Super-resolution imaging of plasma membrane proteins with click chemistry

Besides its function as a passive cell wall, the plasma membrane (PM) serves as a platform for different physiological processes such as signal transduction and cell adhesion, determining the ability of cells to communicate with the exterior and form tissues. Therefore, the spatial distribution of PM components, and the molecular mechanisms underlying it, have important implications in various biological fields including cell development, neurobiology, and immunology. The existence of confined compartments in the plasma membrane that vary on many length scales from protein multimers to micrometer-size domains with different protein and lipid composition is today beyond all questions. As much as the physiology of cells is controlled by the spatial organization of PM components, the study of distribution, size and composition remains challenging. Visualization of the molecular distribution of PM components has been impeded mainly due to two problems: the specific labeling of lipids and proteins without perturbing their native distribution and the diffraction-limit of fluorescence microscopy restricting the resolution to about half the wavelength of light. Here, we present a bioorthogonal chemical reporter strategy based on click chemistry and metabolic labeling for efficient and specific visualization of PM proteins and glycans with organic fluorophores in combination with super-resolution fluorescence imaging by direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM) with single-molecule sensitivity

Super-resolution microscopy reveals ultra-low CD19 expression on myeloma cells that triggers elimination by CD19 CAR-T

Immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor-engineered T-cells (CAR-T) is under investigation in multiple myeloma. There are reports of myeloma remission after CD19 CAR-T therapy, although CD19 is hardly detectable on myeloma cells by flow cytometry (FC). We apply single molecule-sensitive direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM), and demonstrate CD19 expression on a fraction of myeloma cells (10.3–80%) in 10 out of 14 patients (density: 13–5,000 molecules per cell). In contrast, FC detects CD19 in only 2 of these 10 patients, on a smaller fraction of cells. Treatment with CD19 CAR-T in vitro results in elimination of CD19-positive myeloma cells, including those with <100 CD19 molecules per cell. Similar data are obtained by dSTORM analyses of CD20 expression on myeloma cells and CD20 CAR-T. These data establish a sensitivity threshold for CAR-T and illustrate how super-resolution microscopy can guide patient selection in immunotherapy to exploit ultra-low density antigens

SEAwise Report on key drivers and impacts of changes in spatial distribution of fisheries and fished stocks

   An ecosystem approach to fisheries management requires the consideration of spatially explicit management measures and other impacts on species and the links between the distribution of fished species, their surrounding environment and productivity. Quantification of the spatial aspects of fisheries and ecology of commercially fished stocks may improve the accuracy of the predicted changes in fish productivity, fisheries yield and costs, benefits and selectivity.  To provide a knowledge base for spatially explicit considerations, SEAwise consulted stakeholders throughout Europe and conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature. As a first step, engagement with relevant stakeholder groups in each Case Study identified key issues of relevance to spatial management. The input from this stakeholder consultation was supplemented by a systematic literature review with careful consideration of the objectives, search terms, inclusion/exclusion criteria, the method for data/knowledge extraction and ultimately how these data and knowledge will be used. The purpose of the task was to quantify the key drivers and pressures behind the changes occurring in commercial fish stocks and fisheries distribution that have a spatially explicit content, map the relevant existing scientific knowledge and provide input to the subsequent SEAwise tasks.  The words identified by the stakeholders consulted focused on factors causing changes to the distribution of commercial fish/shellfish (climate change, MPAs, species interactions, pollution, habitats and invasive species) and fisheries (windfarms, MPAs, Marine spatial planning) as well as the other human impacts. The systematic review extracted data from 331 papers. The most frequently studied topic was the distribution of fish and the region with most papers was the North Sea with about the twice the amount of papers in each of the other regions. The most frequently studied species in the literature were cod, hake and plaice and by far the most frequently studied fisheries was demersal trawl fisheries.  Among the issues identified by stakeholders as key, the effects of environmental conditions on the distribution of fish were particularly well represented in the reviewed material. In contrast, factors determining the distribution of fisheries were almost exclusively studied in trawl fishing in the North Sea and papers on the effect of area restrictions on fish and fisheries were largely restricted to Western waters and the North Sea. While knowledge on the effects of habitats on species did exist, this was restricted to the Baltic Sea and North Sea and papers addressing this outside these areas were close to non-existent. This points to important areas for future work in SEAwise. This report describes part of the results of the SEAwise project. More information about the project can be found at https://seawiseproject.org/ </p