A critical review of NanoSIMS in analysis of microbial metabolic activities at single-cell level

Abstract

Over 3.8 billion years of evolution has enabled many microbial species a versatile metabolism. However, limited by experimental methods, some unique metabolism remains unknown or unclear. A major obstacle is to attribute the incorporation of certain nutrients into a noncultivable species out of a complex microbial community. Such difficulty could be solved if we are able to directly observe substrate uptake at the single-cell level. Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) is a powerful tool for revealing element distribution in nanometer-scale resolution in the fields such as material sciences, geosciences and astronomy. In this review, we focus on another applicability of NanoSIMS in microbiology. In such fields, physiological properties and metabolic activities of microorganisms can be revealed with a single-cell scale resolution by NanoSIMS solely or in combination with other techniques. This review will highlight the features of NanoSIMS in analyzing the metabolic activities of carbon, nitrogen, metal irons by mixed-culture assemblies. Some values of NanoSIMS in environmental microbiology are expected to be discussed via this review.

The in vivo hydrocarbon formation by vanadium nitrogenase follows a secondary metabolic pathway

“…This procedure was repeated 13 times, to allow isotope enrichment and, subsequently, equal amounts of the 12 CO- and 13 CO-treated cells were fixed, dried and analysed by nanoscale secondary ion MS (CAMECA nanoSIMS 50L instrument)789. Secondary electron images of samples incubated with 12 CO (Fig.…”

Pyrenoidal sequestration of cadmium impairs carbon dioxide fixation in a microalga

“…Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) allows elemental and isotopic mapping with a resolution of about 50 nm. In biology, it is used to localize and to determine at a subcellular level the turnover of proteins and metabolites using stable isotopic tracers ( 13 C and 15 N) (Gao, Huang, & Tao, 2016;Lechene et al, 2006). Moreover, when NanoSIMS is combined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in correlative imaging, isotopic tracers can be localized in the cell structure (Clode, Stern, & Marshall, 2007;Hoppe, Cohen, & Meibom, 2013;Kopp et al, 2015;Penen et al, 2016).…”

A Rapid and Sensitive Quantitative Analysis Method for TNT using Raman Spectroscopy

“…Compared with conventional analytical methods, Raman spectroscopy has the advantages of non-destructive, rapid, no special requirements for sample preparation, and can be used for trace analysis [2,3]. Therefore, it has important application prospects in the analysis of food [4] and medicine [5], detection of microbial metabolic processes [7], diagnosis of basic microorganisms and DNA bases [9], and biomedical research [6]. And it is very sensitive to the conformation of polymer chains and the interactions between chains, providing information on the physicochemical properties of polymer [10][11][12].…”