26 Apr BIC Image of the Month May 2024

This month’s winner is Xuesi Zhou from the team « Mechano-biology of motile and neuronal structures » (UMR 5297, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience).

This image shows the very particular organization of the cytoskeleton in neurons. Actin rings, composed of short actin filaments capped by the adducin protein, are wrapped around the circumference of the neurite and separated by spectrin tetramers at 180-190 nanometer intervals. These structure is called membrane periodic skeleton (MPS). By labelling Adducin (right image: cyan) and the C-terminal domain of β2-spectrin (right image: red), and using the exchange-PAINT super-resolution microscopy, Xuesi is able to see the alternative 90nm ring-like structures.  This image has been taken using the TIRF-PALM-STORM microscope. The left image shows the neurite using a MAP2 labelling.

Xusei Zhou