From this model, we extract a pairwise distance map at each cell size. This dynamic distance map reproduces known macrodomains of the E. coli chromosome and also shows that the left-arm and right-arm macrodomains form dynamically at a certain stage of the cell cycle.
(12/14)

Using this system we get the spatial distribution of 68 different sites as a function of time. First, we get a dynamic global image of chromosome dynamics both at the cell’s long axis and radial axis.
(10/14)

After imaging all the cells, we need to identify which strain is in which growth channel. We do that using a unique method that was developed in our lab to detect molecular barcodes using fluorescent probes hybridization.
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
(9/14)

Where bacterial cells are growing in narrow growth channels, and each channel contains only the daughter cells of a single mother cell. Meaning, all cells in a growth channel have the same genotype.
(8/14)

So, to measure all of them in a single experiment our lab developed a system for running microscopy experiments on a strain library in a single experiment. We do that by loading the library onto a microfluidic device called a “mother machine”.
(7/14)

To track the chromosome in live cells we can insert a fluorescent label into the chromosome which we can track in 3D under the microscope. But to track the whole chromosome dynamics we would need to label many sites along the chromosome.
(5/14)

In bacteria, to make sure the genome propagates to the next generations, the chromosome must be replicated and the two new copies must segregate to two halves of the cell before division (which can happen within 20 minutes).
(3/14)