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bioRxiv · 10.1101/784371

Clickable methionine as a universal probe for labelling intracellular bacteria

Atwal, S.·Giengkam, S.·Jaiyen, Y.·Feaga, h.·Dworkin, J.·Salje, J.
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Abstract

Despite their clinical and biological importance, the cell biology of obligate intracellular bacteria is less well understood than that of many free-living model organisms. One reason for this is that they are mostly genetically intractable. As a consequence, it is not possible to engineer strains expressing fluorescent proteins and therefore fluorescence light microscopy - a key tool in host-pathogen cell biology studies - is difficult. Strain diversity limits the universality of antibody-based immunofluorescence approaches. Here, we have developed a universal labelling protocol for intracellular bacteria based on a clickable methionine analog. Whilst we have applied this to obligate intracellular bacteria, we expect it to be useful for labelling free living bacteria as well as other intracellular pathogens.

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Atwal, S., Giengkam, S., Jaiyen, Y., Feaga, h., Dworkin, J., Salje, J.. 2019-09-26. Clickable methionine as a universal probe for labelling intracellular bacteria. https://doi.org/10.1101/784371

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