Short Communication

Simultaneous measurement of sensor-protein dynamics and motility of a single cell by on-chip microcultivation system

Ippei Inoue¹ , Daisuke Shiomi² , Ikuro Kawagishi² and Kenji Yasuda¹

¹  Department of Life Sciences, Graduate school of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro, Tokyo 153-8902 JAPAN

²  Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8602 JAPAN

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2004, 2:4doi:10.1186/1477-3155-2-4

Published:	30 April 2004

Abstract

Measurement of the correlation between sensor-protein expression, motility and environmental change is important for understanding the adaptation process of cells during their change of generation. We have developed a novel assay exploiting the on-chip cultivation system, which enabled us to observe the change of the localization of expressed sensor-protein and the motility for generations. Localization of the aspartate sensitive sensor protein at two poles in Escherichia coli decreased quickly after the aspartate was added into the cultivation medium. However, it took more than three generations for recovering the localization after the removal of aspartate from the medium. Moreover, the tumbling frequency was strongly related to the localization of the sensor protein in a cell. The results indicate that the change of the spatial localization of sensor protein, which was inherited for more than three generations, may contribute to cells, motility as the inheritable information.