Conventional studies of dynamic phagocytic behavior have been limited in terms of spatial and temporal resolution due to the inherent three-dimensionality and small features of phagocytosis. To overcome these issues, we use a series of frustrated phagocytosis assays to quantitatively characterize phagocytic spreading dynamics. Our investigation reveals that frustrated phagocytic spreading occurs in phases and is punctuated by a distinct period of contraction. The spreading duration and peak contact areas are independent of the surface opsonin density, although the opsonin density does affect the likelihood that a cell will spread. This reinforces the idea that phagocytosis dynamics are primarily dictated by cytoskeletal activity. Structured illumination microscopy reveals that F-actin is reorganized during the course of frustrated phagocytosis. F-actin in early stages is consistent with that observed in lamellipodial protrusions. During the contraction phase, it is bundled into fibers that surround the cell and is reminiscent of a contractile belt. Using traction force microscopy, we show that cells exert significant strain on the underlying substrate during the contraction phase but little strain during the spreading phase, demonstrating that phagocytes actively constrict during late-stage phagocytosis. We also find that latestage contraction initiates after the cell surface area increases by 225%, which is consistent with the point at which cortical tension begins to rise. Moreover, reducing tension by exposing cells to hypertonic buffer shifts the onset of contraction to occur in larger contact areas. Together, these findings provide further evidence that tension plays a significant role in signaling late-stage phagocytic activity.

Tailoring interfaces with polymer brushes is a commonly used strategy to create functional materials for numerous applications. Existing methods are limited in brush thickness, the ability to generate high-density brushes of biopolymers, and the potential for regeneration. Here we introduce a scheme to synthesize ultra-thick regenerating hyaluronan polymer brushes using hyaluronan synthase. The platform provides a dynamic interface with tunable brush heights that extend up to 20 microns – two orders of magnitude thicker than standard brushes. The brushes are easily sculpted into micropatterned landscapes by photo-deactivation of the enzyme. Further, they provide a continuous source of megadalton hyaluronan or they can be covalently-stabilized to the surface. Stabilized brushes exhibit superb resistance to biofilms, yet are locally digested by fibroblasts. This brush technology provides opportunities in a range of arenas including regenerating tailorable biointerfaces for implants, wound healing or lubrication as well as fundamental studies of the glycocalyx and polymer physics.

The member of Rho family of small GTPases Cdc42 plays important and conserved roles in cell polarity and motility. The Cdc42ep family proteins have been identified to bind to Cdc42, yet how they interact with Cdc42 to regulate cell migration remains to be elucidated. In this study, we focus on Cdc42ep1, which is expressed predominantly in the highly migratory neural crest cells in frog embryos. Through morpholino-mediated knockdown, we show that Cdc42ep1 is required for the migration of cranial neural crest cells. Loss of Cdc42ep1 leads to rounder cell shapes and the formation of membrane blebs, consistent with the observed disruption in actin organization and focal adhesion alignment. As a result, Cdc42ep1 is critical for neural crest cells to apply traction forces at the correct place to migrate efficiently. We further show that Cdc42ep1 is localized to two areas in neural crest cells: in membrane protrusions together with Cdc42 and in perinuclear patches where Cdc42 is absent. Cdc42 directly interacts with Cdc42ep1 (through the CRIB domain) and changes in Cdc42 level shift the distribution of Cdc42ep1 between these two subcellular locations, controlling the formation of membrane protrusions and directionality of migration as a consequence. These results suggest that Cdc42ep1 elaborates Cdc42 activity in neural crest cells to promote their efficient migration.

2,6-diaminopurine (DAP) is a nucleobase analog of adenine. When incorporated into double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), it forms three hydrogen bonds with thymine. Rare in nature, DAP substitution alters the physical characteristics of a DNA molecule without sacrificing sequence specificity. Here, we show that in addition to stabilizing double-strand hybridization, DAP substitution also changes the mechanical and conformational properties of dsDNA. Thermal melting experiments reveal that DAP substitution raises melting temperatures without diminishing sequence-dependent effects. Using a combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM), magnetic tweezer (MT) nanomechanical assays, and circular dichroism spectroscopy, we demonstrate that DAP substitution increases the flexural rigidity of dsDNA yet also facilitates conformational shifts, which manifest as changes in molecule length. DAP substitution increases both the static and dynamic persistence length of DNA (measured by AFM and MT, respectively). In the static case (AFM), in which tension is not applied to the molecule, the contour length of DAP-DNA appears shorter than wild-type (WT)-DNA; under tension (MT), they have similar dynamic contour lengths. At tensions above 60 pN, WT-DNA undergoes characteristic overstretching because of strand separation (tension-induced melting) and spontaneous adoption of a conformation termed S-DNA. Cyclic overstretching and relaxation of WT-DNA at near-zero loading rates typically yields hysteresis, indicative of tension-induced melting; conversely, cyclic stretching of DAP-DNA showed little or no hysteresis, consistent with the adoption of the S-form, similar to what has been reported for GC-rich sequences. However, DAP-DNA overstretching is distinct from GC-rich overstretching in that it happens at a significantly lower tension. In physiological salt conditions, evenly mixed AT/GC DNA typically overstretches around 60 pN. GC-rich sequences overstretch at similar if not slightly higher tensions. Here, we show that DAP-DNA overstretches at 52 pN. In summary, DAP substitution decreases the overall stability of the B-form double helix, biasing toward non-B-form DNA helix conformations at zero tension and facilitating the B-to-S transition at high tension.

Loops are ubiquitous topological elements formed when proteins simultaneously bind to two noncontiguous DNA sites. While a loop‐mediating protein may regulate initiation at a promoter, the presence of the protein at the other site may be an obstacle for RNA polymerases (RNAP) transcribing a different gene. To test whether a DNA loop alters the extent to which a protein blocks transcription, the lac repressor (LacI) was used. The outcome of in vitro transcription along templates containing two LacI operators separated by 400 bp in the presence of LacI concentrations that produced both looped and unlooped molecules was visualized with scanning force microscopy (SFM). An analysis of transcription elongation complexes, moving for 60 s at an average of 10 nt/s on unlooped DNA templates, revealed that they more often surpassed LacI bound to the lower affinity O2 operator than to the highest affinity Os operator. However, this difference was abrogated in looped DNA molecules where LacI became a strong roadblock independently of the affinity of the operator. Recordings of transcription elongation complexes, using magnetic tweezers, confirmed that they halted for several minutes upon encountering a LacI bound to a single operator. The average pause lifetime is compatible with RNAP waiting for LacI dissociation, however, the LacI open conformation visualized in the SFM images also suggests that LacI could straddle RNAP to let it pass. Independently of the mechanism by which RNAP bypasses the LacI roadblock, the data indicate that an obstacle with looped topology more effectively interferes with transcription.

Tethered Particle Motion (TPM) is a versatile in vitro technique for monitoring the conformations a linear macro-molecule, such as DNA, can exhibit. The technique involves monitoring the diffusive motion of a tracker particle anchored to a fixed point via the macro-molecule of interest, which acts as a tether. In this chapter, we provide an overview of TPM, review the fundamental principles that determine the accuracy with which effective tether lengths can be used to distinguish different tether conformations, present software tools that assist in capturing and analyzing TPM data, and provide a protocol which uses TPM to characterize lac repressor induced DNA looping. Critical to any TPM assay is understanding the timescale over which the diffusive motion of the tracker particle must be observed to accurately distinguish tether conformations. Approximating the tether as a Hookean spring, we show how to estimate the diffusion timescale, and discuss how it relates to the confidence with which tether conformations can be differentiated. Applying those estimates to a lac repressor titration assay, we describe how to perform a TPM experiment. Additionally, we also provide graphically driven software which can be used to speed up data collection and analysis. Lastly, we detail how TPM data from the titration assay can be used to calculate relevant molecular descriptors such as the DNA looping J factor and lac repressor – operator dissociation constants. While the included protocol is geared toward studying DNA looping, the technique, fundamental principles, and analytical methods are more general and can be adapted to a wide variety of molecular systems.

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Functional chemical micropatterns were fabricated by exploiting the photobleaching of dye-coupled species near methacrylate self-assembled monolayers. Using this approach we have demonstrated that multiple chemistries can be coupled to the monolayer using a standard fluorescence microscope. The surface bound functional groups remain active and patterns with feature sizes down to 3 µm can be readily achieved with excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Control over the ligand binding density was demonstrated to illustrate the convenient route provided by this platform for fabricating complex spatial gradients in ligand density.