Chromatin
is a DNA–protein complex that is densely packed
in the cell nucleus. The nanoscale chromatin compaction plays critical
roles in the modulation of cell nuclear processes. However, little
is known about the spatiotemporal dynamics of chromatin compaction
states because it remains difficult to quantitatively measure the
chromatin compaction level in live cells. Here, we demonstrate a strategy,
referenced as DYNAMICS imaging, for mapping chromatin organization
in live cell nuclei by analyzing the dynamic scattering signal of
molecular fluctuations. Highly sensitive optical interference microscopy,
coherent brightfield (COBRI) microscopy, is implemented to detect
the linear scattering of unlabeled chromatin at a high speed. A theoretical
model is established to determine the local chromatin density from
the statistical fluctuation of the measured scattering signal. DYNAMICS
imaging allows us to reconstruct a speckle-free nucleus map that is
highly correlated to the fluorescence chromatin image. Moreover, together
with calibration based on nanoparticle colloids, we show that the
DYNAMICS signal is sensitive to the chromatin compaction level at
the nanoscale. We confirm the effectiveness of DYNAMICS imaging in
detecting the condensation and decondensation of chromatin induced
by chemical drug treatments. Importantly, the stable scattering signal
supports a continuous observation of the chromatin condensation and
decondensation processes for more than 1 h. Using this technique,
we detect transient and nanoscopic chromatin condensation events occurring
on a time scale of a few seconds. Label-free DYNAMICS imaging offers
the opportunity to investigate chromatin conformational dynamics and
to explore their significance in various gene activities.
Optical interference microscopy is
a powerful bioimaging technique
by measuring the complex light fields associated with the specimen.
Nowadays, the state-of-the-art interference microscopy makes it possible
to directly visualize very small single biological nanoparticles and
unlabeled macromolecules. The stable and indefinite linear scattering
signal allows for continuous observation of the sample at a high speed,
offering the opportunities to investigate single-molecule biophysics
with the unprecedented details. Meanwhile, using interference microscopy
to explore complex biological samples, such as a biological cell,
emerges as an exciting research field. In this Perspective, we share
our views on the impacts of optical interference microscopy on live
cell imaging. Strategies for discriminating the scattering signals
from different cell organelles and biological macromolecules are presented.
In particular, the dynamic optical signal of live cells contains rich
temporal information that is useful for enhancing the molecular specificity
and functional information in label-free cell imaging. Finally, the
challenges in three-dimensional imaging and turbidity suppression
are discussed.
We demonstrate a computational method to map the nuclear organization of live cells based on a deep-learning approach where the time-varying scattering signal is used to estimate the density of chromatin in the fluorescence image.
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