Integrating two-photon microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy for studying the interaction of Caféteria roenbergensis and CroV
Abstract
Cafeteria roenbergensis (Cro) is a marine zooplankton; its voracious appetite plays a significant role in regulating bacteria populations. The giant virus that lives within Cro, known as Cafeteria roenbergensis virus (CroV), has an important effect on the mortality of Cro populations. Although viral infections are extremely abundant in oceans, the complete procedure of the infection is still unknown. We study the infection process of Cro by CroV to find out whether the initial contact is through phagocytosis or CroV penetrating the host cell membrane directly. Cro is a moving at speed in the range of 10-100 um/s, therefore, there are many difficulties and challenges for traditional imaging techniques to study this viral-host interaction. We apply two-photon fluorescence microscopy to image this infection process. The image is taken at video rate (30 frame/s), which makes us able to catch the moment of interaction. We are able to image host and virus simultaneously where CroV is stained by SYBR gold dye and Cro is excited through NADH autofluorescence. For further structural biology study, we will obtain atomic level resolution information of infection. After catching the initial moment of infection, we will freeze the sample instantly and image it with cryo-electron microscope .
Subject Area
Biological oceanography|Parasitology|Virology|Optics|Biophysics
Recommended Citation
Aghvami, Seyedmohammadali, "Integrating two-photon microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy for studying the interaction of Caféteria roenbergensis and CroV" (2014). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1564655.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1564655