DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2009.03299.x. Comparison of different methods for thin section EM analysis of <i>Mycobacterium smegmatis</i>

Comparison of different methods for thin section EM analysis of Mycobacterium smegmatis

10.1111/j.1365-2818.2009.03299.x

Crossref journal-article

Wiley

Journal of Microscopy (311)

Abstract

SummaryBacteria are generally difficult specimens to prepare for conventional resin section electron microscopy and mycobacteria, with their thick and complex cell envelope layers being especially prone to artefacts. Here we made a systematic comparison of different methods for preparing Mycobacterium smegmatis for thin section electron microscopy analysis. These methods were: (1) conventional preparation by fixatives and epoxy resins at ambient temperature. (2) Tokuyasu cryo‐section of chemically fixed bacteria. (3) rapid freezing followed by freeze substitution and embedding in epoxy resin at room temperature or (4) combined with Lowicryl HM20 embedding and ultraviolet (UV) polymerization at low temperature and (5) CEMOVIS, or cryo electron microscopy of vitreous sections. The best preservation of bacteria was obtained with the cryo electron microscopy of vitreous sections method, as expected, especially with respect to the preservation of the cell envelope and lipid bodies. By comparison with cryo electron microscopy of vitreous sections both the conventional and Tokuyasu methods produced different, undesirable artefacts. The two different types of freeze‐substitution protocols showed variable preservation of the cell envelope but gave acceptable preservation of the cytoplasm, but not lipid bodies, and bacterial DNA. In conclusion although cryo electron microscopy of vitreous sections must be considered the ‘gold standard’ among sectioning methods for electron microscopy, because it avoids solvents and stains, the use of optimally prepared freeze substitution also offers some advantages for ultrastructural analysis of bacteria.

Bibliography

BLECK, C. K. E., MERZ, A., GUTIERREZ, M. G., WALTHER, P., DUBOCHET, J., ZUBER, B., & GRIFFITHS, G. (2009). Comparison of different methods for thin section EM analysis of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Journal of Microscopy, 237(1), 23â38. Portico.

Authors 7

C.K.E. BLECK (first)
A. MERZ (additional)
M.G. GUTIERREZ (additional)
P. WALTHER (additional)
J. DUBOCHET (additional)
B. ZUBER (additional)
G. GRIFFITHS (additional)

References 51 Referenced 67

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{'key': 'e_1_2_6_42_1', 'first-page': '57', 'article-title': 'Influence of fixatives and embedding media on immunolabelling of freeze‐substituted cells', 'volume': '3', 'author': 'Schwarz H.', 'year': '1989', 'journal-title': 'Scanning Microsc. Suppl.'} / Scanning Microsc. Suppl. / Influence of fixatives and embedding media on immunolabelling of freeze‐substituted cells by Schwarz H. (1989)
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10.1128/JB.01919-07

Dates

Type	When
Created	15 years, 11 months ago (Sept. 16, 2009, 1:10 p.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 9 months ago (Nov. 2, 2023, 7:16 a.m.)
Indexed	2 days, 12 hours ago (Aug. 21, 2025, 2:10 p.m.)
Issued	15 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 10, 2009)
Published	15 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 10, 2009)
Published Online	15 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 10, 2009)
Published Print	15 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 1, 2010)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{BLECK_2009, title={Comparison of different methods for thin section EM analysis of Mycobacterium smegmatis}, volume={237}, ISSN={1365-2818}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2818.2009.03299.x}, DOI={10.1111/j.1365-2818.2009.03299.x}, number={1}, journal={Journal of Microscopy}, publisher={Wiley}, author={BLECK, C.K.E. and MERZ, A. and GUTIERREZ, M.G. and WALTHER, P. and DUBOCHET, J. and ZUBER, B. and GRIFFITHS, G.}, year={2009}, month=dec, pages={23–38} }

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