Applied Microscopy

Korean Society of Microscopy (한국현미경학회)
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Microscopy of Microbial Gas Vesicles

  • Park, Junhyung (School of Ecology and Environmental System, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Kim, Ki Woo (School of Ecology and Environmental System, Kyungpook National University)
  • Received : 2017.09.05
  • Accepted : 2017.09.17
  • Published : 2017.09.30
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Abstract

Gas vesicles are intracellular gas-filled protein-shelled nanocompartments. The structures are spindle or cylinder-shaped, and typically $0.1{\sim}2{\mu}m$ in length and 45~250 nm in width. A variety of prokaryotes including photosynthetic bacteria and halophilic archaea form gas vesicles in their cytoplasm. Gas vesicles provide cell buoyancy as flotation devices in aqueous habitats. They are used as nanoscale molecular reporters for ultrasound imaging for biomedical purposes. The structures in halophilic archaea are poorly resolved due to the low signal-to-noise ratio from the high salt concentration in the medium. Such a limitation can be overcome using focused ion beam-thinning or inelastically scattered electrons. As the concentric bodies (~200 nm in diameter) in fungi possess gas-filled cores, it is possible that the concept of gas vesicles could be applied to eukaryotic microbes beyond prokaryotes.

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References

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