Fig. 8
Mucosomes colocalize with bacteria in a 3D model of pulmonary mucus infection. (a) The red channel of the image shows P. aeruginosa that was transformed to express red fluorescence (mCherry). From this picture, it is possible to observe the bacterial aggregates (highlighted with green circles) that were formed during the experimental time-course. (b) The green channel of the image for P. aeruginosa culture shows a non-random distribution of FITC-loaded mucosomes (clusters are highlighted with red circles). (c) By merging the red and green channels it is possible to appreciate the co-localization between bacteria clusters and mucosomes (highlighted with green circles). (d) Similarly, by looking at the red channel image for S. aureus cultures (bacteria were transformed to express DsRed fluorescent protein), it can be noticed that bacteria are organized into multicellular clusters (highlighted with green circles) after 48 h in culture. (e) From the green channel image, it is possible to spot different aggregates of mucosomes (highlighted with red circles). (f) When merging the 2 channels also for S. aureus cultures, mucosomes are preferentially located in the proximity of S. aureus clusters. All the scale-bars in this figure are equal to 50 μm.
