Understanding how cellular components interact and organize in microbiology with single-molecule microscopy

Abstract

Just as membraneless organelles play key roles in organization, health, and disease in eukaryotic cells, these compartments are emerging as critical for the subcellular organization of microbial cells (Azaldegui et al., Biophysical Journal 2021). Biomolecular condensates assemble through a collection of weak interactions, but the mechanistic and biochemical factors that regulate condensation in diverse systems are not fully understood. Understanding how cellular components move, interact, and organize–by scaffolding, aggregation, phase separation, or otherwise–will produce a general model of bacterial cell organization.