Figure 5.
Evidence that Intercellular Nanotubes Contribute to Colony Development
(A) AR16 (PrrnE-gfp) cells were followed by CLSM. At t = 3 hr, the cells were fixed, washed, gold coated, and observed with HR-SEM: (1) Fluorescence image of stage I colony. (2) HR-SEM image of the same colony at low magnification. Notably, cell position was slightly shifted during fixation. (3) Magnification of the boxed region in 2. Red arrows highlight intercellular tubular structures.
(B) GB61 (ΔymdB) cells were treated as in (A). (1) Low-magnification HR-SEM image. (2) Magnification of the boxed region in 1.
(C and D) Time-lapse fluorescence images of AR16 developing colonies.
(C) The intercellular region between the three Y arms (t = 4 hr) was irradiated, and colony was photographed at t = 7 hr.
(D) Untreated colony was followed in parallel. Scale bars represent 20 μm.