Single-cell census of mechanosensitive channels in living bacteria

摘要: Bacteria are subjected to a host of different environmental stresses. One such insult occurs when cells encounter changes in the osmolarity surrounding media resulting an osmotic shock. In recent years, great deal has been learned about mechanosensitive (MS) channels which thought provide osmoprotection these circumstances by opening emergency release valves response membrane tension. However, even most elementary physiological parameters as number MS per cell, how channel expression levels influence cells, and this mean varies from cell remain unanswered. paper, we make detailed quantitative study large conductance (MscL) at various stages growth history bacterial cultures. Using both fluorescence microscopy Western blots our complements earlier electrophysiology-based estimates results following key insights: i) is much higher than previously estimated, ii) measurement single-cell distributions reveals marked variability iii) under conditions. The regulation MscL displays rich behaviors that depend strongly on culturing conditions stress factors, may give clues role MscL. stress-induced associated have far reaching implications for vivo modeling response. As shown numerous biophysical models, their can impact many processes including osmoprotection, gating probability, clustering.