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Title: RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) as a method to visualize bacterial colonization in the C. elegans gut
Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model to study host-microbe interactions as it is easy to visualize bacterial presence in their intestine. However, previous studies have shown that utilizing transgenic, fluorescent protein-expressing bacteria is not a reliable method to distinguish living bacteria from dead bacteria in the lumen of C. elegans. In this study, we compared methods for visualizing bacterial presence within the C. elegans intestine and found that RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization (RNA FISH) could distinguish the difference between intact and dead bacteria. Thus, we propose RNA FISH as the preferred method to visualize live bacterial presence in the intestines of C. elegans prior to fixation.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2143718
PAR ID:
10558884
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
microPublication Biology
Date Published:
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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