Electron microscopy of frozen-hydrated bacteria
10.1128/jb.155.1.381-390.1983
Crossref journal-article
American Society for Microbiology
Journal of Bacteriology (235)
Abstract

Amorphous, unstained, frozen-hydrated sections of bacteria provide a faithful high-resolution image of procaryotic cells. Conventional preparation artifacts due to fixation, staining, and dehydration are nonexistent. Freezing damage is avoided by using glucose as a cryoprotectant. Cutting damage on frozen material is severe, but sectioning artifacts, being always related to the cutting direction, can be systematically recognized and thus taken into consideration. Geometry and density distribution of the bacterial envelope can be resolved to about 3 nm. The following main features have been observed. In Escherichia coli the inner and outer membranes have an approximately uniform density profile. The distance between the two membranes is constant, ca. 33 nm. In Staphylococcus aureus the cell wall is ca. 40 nm wide. It is bordered on the cytoplasmic side by an asymmetric 5.5-nm-wide bilayer. The bacterial nucleoid, clearly visible with conventional preparation methods, appears in exponentially growing bacteria as an ill-defined central region with approximately the same density as the rest of the cytoplasm. It becomes more clearly visible when bacteria are in the stationary phase, plasmolysed, fixed, or stained. We confirm that "mesosomes," hitherto quite often considered to be essential organelles in all procaryotes, are artifacts. They appear in large numbers during osmium fixation.

Bibliography

Dubochet, J., McDowall, A. W., Menge, B., Schmid, E. N., & Lickfeld, K. G. (1983). Electron microscopy of frozen-hydrated bacteria. Journal of Bacteriology, 155(1), 381–390.

Authors 5
  1. J Dubochet (first)
  2. A W McDowall (additional)
  3. B Menge (additional)
  4. E N Schmid (additional)
  5. K G Lickfeld (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 5 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 3, 2020, 12:46 p.m.)
Deposited 4 years ago (July 29, 2021, 1:33 p.m.)
Indexed 1 month, 2 weeks ago (July 3, 2025, 5:45 a.m.)
Issued 42 years, 1 month ago (July 1, 1983)
Published 42 years, 1 month ago (July 1, 1983)
Published Print 42 years, 1 month ago (July 1, 1983)
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@article{Dubochet_1983, title={Electron microscopy of frozen-hydrated bacteria}, volume={155}, ISSN={1098-5530}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jb.155.1.381-390.1983}, DOI={10.1128/jb.155.1.381-390.1983}, number={1}, journal={Journal of Bacteriology}, publisher={American Society for Microbiology}, author={Dubochet, J and McDowall, A W and Menge, B and Schmid, E N and Lickfeld, K G}, year={1983}, month=jul, pages={381–390} }