Novel Single-Cell and High-Throughput Microscopy Techniques to Monitor Dictyostelium discoideum–Mycobacterium marinum Infection Dynamics

Abstract

The Dictyostelium discoideum–Mycobacterium marinum host–pathogen system is a well-established and powerful alternative model system to study mycobacterial infections. In this chapter, we will describe three microscopy methods that allow the precise identification and quantification of very diverse phenotypes arising during infection of D. discoideum with M. marinum. First, at the lowest end of the scale, we use the InfectChip, a microfluidic device that enables the long-term monitoring of the integrated history of the infection course at the single-cell level. We use single-cell analysis to precisely map and quantitate the various fates of the host and the pathogen during infection. Second, a high-content microscopy setup was established to study the infection dynamics with high-throughput imaging of a large number of cells at the different critical stages of infection. The large datasets are then fed into a deep image analysis pipeline allowing the development of complex phenotypic analyses. Finally, as part of its life cycle, single D. discoideum amoebae aggregate by chemotaxis to form multicellular structures, which represent ordered assemblies of hundreds of thousands of cells. This transition represents a challenge for the monitoring of infection at multiple scales, from single cells to a true multicellular organism. In order to visualize and quantitate the fates of host cells and bacteria during the developmental cycle in a controlled manner, we can adjust the proportion of infected cells using live FAC-sorting. Then, cells are plated in defined humidity conditions on optical glass plates in order to image large fields, using tile scans, with the help of a spinning disc confocal microscope.